Ryan MacLeod, an attorney for an attendee of the Travis Scott concert in Houston that reportedly resulted in eight dead on Friday, said Monday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that the rapper “knew there were problems” before eight people died during a crowd stampede at his performance at the Astroworld Festival.
MacLeod said, “I believe that this was not just months in the making, this wasn’t just days in the making, this was years in the making. Travis Scott and his promoters know very well from at least 2015, Travis has been arrested for inciting violence. Oftentimes when there’s a mosh pit at one of his concerts, he will proudly say this isn’t a mosh pit unless someone is getting hurt. One time there was a concert in Manhattan of all places where he encouraged people to push people off a balcony. There was a young man who was left paralyzed. In fact, before this Houston concert, it was sold out, and he tweeted proudly again, we’re going to sneak the wild ones in. Then our Mayor Turner tells him that this is a problem. Then during the concert, even when first responders are trying to respond, he continues the concert. It’s disgusting. It’s despicable. We’re better than this as humans.”
He added, “I know that if you have a pulse and you’re alive, as Travis Scott was that night, and you’ve got the microphone in your hand and you’re in charge, and you identify that there’s a life and death – there’s a problem. He is saying there’s a guy down, and you’ve got ambulances, EMTs trying to force their way into this mass crowd, and you don’t stop? There’s a problem. And you are putting profits over safety. He knew that there were problems all around him. If you watch the video footage, it is telling. He knew that there were problems. He knew that there were serious emergencies. He knew that first responders needed to do their jobs. CPR was literally being administered while he’s still singing about being the highest in the room. That cannot ever happen again.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN