At the Astroworld music festival last month, a significant crowd surge of more than 50,000 concert-goers resulted in severe chaos and tragedy. Ten people died as a result, and hundreds of other attendees ended up in the hospital for injuries involving lack of oxygen and being trampled on. The concert's organizers, including headliner Travis Scott and Live Nation, later faced a backlash, as well as an internal investigation from law enforcement about the seeming lack of safety protocols for the size of the crowd that was expected. A documentary was recently released on Hulu about the horrific chain of events but, due to some anger and confusion on subscribers' part, the streamer has since decided to pull it from the platform.
The documentary in question, called Astroworld: Concert From Hell, began streaming on Hulu on December 1, only a few weeks after the incident. It promised a “minute-by-minute look” at what was happening amidst the crowd surge and the consequences of it. On social media, though, platform subscribers complained about the timing and content of the special. Many considered the title in particular to be “exploitive” and in “poor taste” in the wake of the multiple casualties – the youngest of whom was a 9-year-old boy from Dallas – with some even perceiving that the documentary was putting the blame on the attendees.
Only a day after the backlash, the documentary was taken down from the streaming service. A Hulu spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter that the company wanted to correct the perception that the streamer itself was directly responsible for the controversial special. They said:
This was an investigative local news special from ABC13/KTRK-TV in Houston that originally aired on November 20th. This was not a Hulu documentary and has since been removed to avoid confusion.
Though the documentary is no longer on Hulu, there still remains the issue of who was responsible for the deaths and traumatic injuries that were sustained at Astroworld. (Travis Scott and his organizers allegedly had no plans in place for crowd surge issues.) Immediately following the bedlam, the rapper released a statement (via Fox News) in which he stated that he was “distraught” and hoped to “provide aid” as soon as possible. To that end, Scott has since offered to pay the funeral costs of the concert’s victims, but at least half of the families have allegedly rejected the offer, per BBC.
The rapper and the other organizers are now faced with more than 250 lawsuits coming from 850 individuals affected by the Astroworld concert, according to Billboard. And the damages they are collectively seeking are reportedly in the billions. Travis Scott has enlisted the services of high-profile attorney Daniel Petrocelli, who has represented everyone from O.J. Simpson to Walt Disney in its legal battle with Scarlett Johansson, over pay discrepancies.
Our hearts go out to the Astroworld music festival’s victims and families at this time.
