Rapper Travis Scott will cover all funeral costs for the eight victims who died during his performance at the Astroworld Festival on Friday (5), in the United States. The information was released by a representative of the rapper and producer.
The Houston-born artist — the host city of the festival — will also partner with BetterHelp to provide free mental health services to everyone affected by the tragedy.
“Travis continues in active conversations with the City of Houston, law enforcement authorities and local first responders to properly and respectfully connect with the individuals and families of those involved,” the statement read.
“These are the first of many steps Travis plans to take as part of his personal pledge to help those affected through their grief and recovery process.”
Separately, Astroworld organizers will provide full refunds to all ticket holders – both those who attended on Friday and those who had tickets to events canceled on Saturday, a source familiar with the situation told CNN on Monday.
A CNN contacted the Live Nation festival promoter for information about the refund process.
In a separate statement on Monday, Live Nation said the company is “working on ways to support the participants, victims’ families and staff” by providing mental health counseling and helping with hospital costs.
Scott hit social media over the weekend and wrote: “I’m absolutely devastated by what happened last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those who have been impacted by what happened at the Astroworld Festival.”
Scott’s partner Kylie Jenner was present at the festival and also posted a statement saying that both she and Scott didn’t know what was going on in the crowd during the performance.
“I want to make it clear that we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no setting would we have continued filming or performing,” wrote Jenner.
Scott took the stage shortly after 9 pm on Friday to perform in front of an audience of 50,000.
Some of the concert goers described the event as traumatizing, with many witnesses saying they saw lifeless bodies being trampled underfoot amidst the chaos.
The first reports of injuries began at 9:30 pm, with Scott continuing to perform until shortly after 10:00 pm. He stopped performing just as an ambulance was seen driving through the crowd.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told CNN that the investigation is ongoing and asks the community “to be considerate of the bereaved families” and “pray them in prayer”.
(Translated text. Read the original in English here).
Reference: CNN Brasil
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