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- The Astroworld festival left eight concertgoers dead and 300 injured after the crowd surged.
- Travis Scott and festival organizers are now facing legal backlash from victims and their families.
- Insider obtained a statement from Scott's attorney.
In his first public statement since the Astroworld festival left eight concertgoers dead and hundreds injured, Travis Scott's attorney urged authorities to move away from "finger-pointing" and "inconsistent messages" as the investigation continues.
"There has been multiple finger-pointing, much of which has been by city officials, who have sent inconsistent messages and have backtracked from original statements," Attorney Edwin F. McPherson of McPherson LLP said in a statement emailed to Insider on Wednesday.
"Investigations should start proceeding over finger-pointing so that together, we can identify exactly what transpired and how we can prevent anything like this from happening again," said McPherson.
A crowd surge compressed concertgoers on Friday night, leaving them gasping for air and calling for help.
"Once one person fell, people started toppling like dominos. It was like a sinkhole. People were falling on top of each other," a concertgoer named Mohit Bellani told KTRK after losing his cousin Bharti Shahani, who is currently on a ventilator and showing no brain activity, in the surge. "There were like layers of bodies on the ground, like two people thick. We were fighting to come up to the top and breathe to stay alive."
Much of the criticism levied at Scott in the aftermath of the festival has focused on his failure to take action after the deadly crowd surge. Scott continued performing for 30 minutes after the Houston Police Department declared the festival a mass-casualty event.
"Despite the hellscape surrounding him, visible from his position onstage, Mr. Scott ignored cries for help from concertgoers and desperate pleas from his own fans," one lawsuit against Scott states.
Houston Fire Chief Peña told The New York Times on Sunday that it's the performer who has a responsibility when soemthing goes wrong.
"The one person who can really call for and get a tactical pause when something goes wrong is that performer. They have that bully pulpit and they have a responsibility," Peña said said. "If somebody would have said, 'Hey, shut this thing down and turn on the lights until this thing gets corrected' - and that coming from the person with the mic - I think could have been very helpful."
At a press conference on Wednesday, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner also said Scott should have stopped the event. Finner said the "ultimate authority to end a show (was) with production and the entertainer, and that should be through communication with public safety officials."
"We don't hold the plug," Finner added.
McPherson, however, referenced the 2019 Astroworld festival, in which Houston Police shut the power off when the festival ran five minutes over. In his emailed statement, McPherson also cited the festival's operations manual, which says that "only the festival director and executive producers have authority to stop the show, neither of which is part of Travis's crew."
More than 30 lawsuits have been filed against Scott, Live Nation, and other festival organizers. On Wednesday, Finner said it's likely the investigation will span the course of weeks or months.
Scott released a statement on Saturday saying he was "absolutely devastated" and would cooperate during the investigation.
"My fans really mean the world to me, and I always just really want to leave them with a positive experience. And any time I can make out you know anything that's going on, you know I stop the show and you know help them get the help they need," Scott said.
Kylie Jenner, Scott's girlfriend, also issued a statement on Sunday via her Instagram story. "I want to make it clear we weren't aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing," Jenner said.
Live Nation, the festival promoter, said in a statement provided to CNN that they "will continue working to provide as much information and assistance as possible to the local authorities as they investigate the situation."
HPD and concert organizers Scoremore and Live Nation didn't immediately return requests from Insider for comment.
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