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Travis Scott won't play upcoming Las Vegas music festival, promises to refund Astroworld tickets

Travis Scott rapper
Posted at 12:09 PM, Nov 08, 2021
and last updated 2021-11-08 14:10:14-05

Rapper Travis Scott says he will not perform at a Las Vegas music festival this weekend after eight people were killed in a trampling incident at his show in Houston on Friday night.

In addition to the eight people killed, 25 people suffered injuries that required hospitalization during Scott's performance at his Astroworld music festival.

On Monday, NBC News and Variety reported that Scott would no longer headline the Day N Vegas music festival this Saturday. Variety spoke to sources who said Scott was "too distraught to perform."

Scott's decision not to play Day N Vegas came as thousands of people signed an online petition calling on organizers to remove the rapper from the lineup.

Variety and NBC also report that Scott has promised to offer refunds to those who bought tickets to the Astroworld music festival.

During the set Friday, concertgoers constantly rushed toward the stage, pushing fans closer and closer together and closer and closer to barriers. The stage rushing came after concertgoers jumped barriers and evaded ticket-takers hours before the performance.

CNN reports that Scott's performance began around 9 p.m. local time, at which point police began receiving calls about injuries in the crowd. Police declared a "mass casualty event" around 9:40 p.m., but Scott's performance continued until after 10 p.m.

As of Monday morning, seven of the eight people killed had been identified. The victims ranged in age from as young as 14 to as old as 27.

Over the weekend, Scott addressed the incident in a series of videos on his Instagram story.

"We've been working closely with everyone to just try and get to the bottom of this — the city of Houston, HPD, fire department. You know, everyone that will help us figure this out. If you have any information, please just contact your local authorities," he said. "Everybody, continue to keep your prayers. I mean, I'm honestly just devastated. I could never imagine anything like this happening. I'm going to do everything I can to keep you guys updated and keep you guys informed on what's going on."