Petition Urges LA's Goldenvoice To Drop Travis Scott

LOS ANGELES, CA — In the wake of a horrific crowd surge that killed eight people during a festival founded and headlined by rapper Travis Scott, thousands signed a petition calling for Goldenvoice to drop the performer from future events.

Goldenvoice, headquartered in Los Angeles, has booked Scott to play the Southland's two-weekend Coachella festival, which is set to run on April 15-17 and April 22-24.

A petition posted to Change.org had already garnered more than 5,460 signatures by Monday morning, calling for the Southland company to remove Scott as a performer in the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Astroworld Festival — named after Scott's third studio album — was dubbed a "mass-casualty" situation. Scott's festival kicked off in Houston Friday evening and gathered some 50,000 attendees.

Authorities estimate that some 300 fans were injured on the festival's first night. Eight people between the ages of 14 and 27 died during the crowd surge — prompting organizers to cancel the remaining days of the festival, Houston authorities said.

Several lawsuits had already been filed by Monday morning, alleging that Scott was reluctant to stop the show as fans cried out for help. Lawsuits also cited negligence from the festival's organizers.

The petition urged Paul Tollett, the co-founder of the festival, and promoter Goldenvoice, along with its parent company AEG, to oust Scott from all of its festivals "due to Scott's own gross negligence and sheer lack of compassion for human life."

Scott on Monday canceled his next scheduled appearance at D N Vegas Festival this Saturday and announced that he is refunding ticket costs for all Astroworld attendees, Variety reported.

Footage posted to social media showed dozens of people rushing a VIP entrance during the day, and the chaotic behavior of fans only escalated when Scott took the stage several hours later.

Scores of fans rushed toward the stage around 9:30 p.m. where Scott was performing. Videos posted to social media shows fans pleading for the music to stop as Scott continued to sing. Although the rapper did pause the show several times to address the chaos, he still finished his set at 10:15 p.m., about 35 minutes after the surge began, according to multiple reports.

Fans had already begun to collapse by 9:39 p.m., the Houston Chronicle reported.

"I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night," Scott said on Saturday afternoon. "My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival.''

Scott, 30, is known for inciting violence and encouraging crowds to rush the stage at his shows. He was previously arrested for his raucous antics on stage that have resulted in injured crowd members at past shows. In 2015, he was arrested after encouraging fans to rush past security barriers and join him onstage at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. He later pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge.

Two years later, he was accused of inciting a riot at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rodgers, Arkansas, after urging members of the crowd to rush the stage. Several people were injured, including a security guard and a police officer. Scott pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and he was ordered to pay court fees and restitution to two injured people.

Weeks later, a 23-year-old fan was partly paralyzed after allegedly being pushed from a third-story balcony during a performance by Scott in New York City. A lawsuit filed by the fan faulting Scott for his injuries is still pending in court.

"Travis Scott’s whole aesthetic is about rebellion," said HipHopDX editor-in-chief Trent Clark, who has attended several of his performances. "The shows have a lot of raging. With the death of punk rock, hip-hop has indeed adopted and patterned the new generation of mosh pits. It’s not uncommon to see a lot of crowding and raging or complete wild behavior at a Travis Scott show."

Organizers for the Coachella festival did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Scott is an eight-time Grammy-nominated rapper who is music’s biggest young stars. The Houston-born musician founded his festival in 2018 on the heels of his hit album "Astroworld," which was carried by the chart topper “Sicko Mode.” He also has a 3-year-old daughter with Kylie Jenner, who announced in September that she is pregnant with their second child.

City News Service contributed to this report.