Travis Scott's Apology Video

About

Travis Scott's Apology Video refers to a video of musician Travis Scott apologizing and sending his condolences for the mass casualty crowd crush incident that happened at 2021's Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas, organized by Scott in collaboration with Livenation. The video was posted to Scott's Instagram Story on November 7th and was highly criticized for seeming disingenuous, with many criticizing and memeing the questionable use of a black-and-white filter and the way Scott repeatedly wipes his forehead. The video also inspired parodies on TikTok.

Origin

Astroworld 2021 Crowd Crush Incident

On November 5th, 2021, Astroworld Festival, an annual two-day music festival run by American rapper Travis Scott, began in Houston, Texas, at NRG Park. On that day, possible signs of overcrowding were first reported^[1][2] before the start of the event as a crowd of people pushed their way into the entrance gate to get into the venue, with some people getting trampled (video shown below). Approximately 50,000 people were estimated to attend, while the venue capacity was 200,000.

Shortly before the start time of Travis Scott's performance, attendee Jorlyn Santana shot a video of people hopping over barricades to escape overcrowding.^[3] The deadly incident occurred between 9:11 and 9:38 p.m., with most fatalities likely occurring after 9:30 p.m. According to the Houston fire chief, "at approximately 9 o’clock, 9:15, the crowd began to compress toward the front of the stage," which "caused some panic and started causing some injuries." At 9:23, attendee Ellen Elise Evans filmed concertgoers climbing speaker rigging to escape the crush. At 9:28, attendee Eric Daniels filmed staff performing chest compressions on an unresponsive person in the crowd.

At 9:30, concertgoers reported that an ambulance was moving through the crowd. Travis Scott acknowledged the ambulance and called for the crowd to make a room, but continued performing. At 9:38 p.m., Houston officials reported a "mass casualty incident" at the concert, with 17 people transferred to hospitals.

At 9:42 p.m. Scott stopped performing a song to warn that help was needed "somebody passed out up here." According to officials, the concert finally ended at 10:10 p.m. after Travis Scott and Drake performed "Sicko Mode."

The crowd surge at the concert resulted in the deaths of eight people, with 25 others evacuated to local hospitals, among them, 11 people were reportedly in a state of cardiac arrest. More than 300 people were treated for injuries at a field hospital at the festival.^[4]

Travis Scott's Apology Video

On November 6th, 2021, Travis Scott posted^[5] a response in which he expressed condolences to families of those who died at the concert and thanked Houston PD and Fire Department for their response. The tweet received over 42,800 retweets, 36,400 quote tweets and 382,400 likes (shown below, left). On the same day, Scott^[6] made another response in an Instagram story (shown below, right).

My fans mean a world to me, and I always want to leave them with a positive experience. If at any time I could make out anything that was going on, I would stop the show and help them get the help they need, you know. I just could never imagine this […] situation.

Additionally, Scott said in a statement that he would be covering the funeral costs for the families involved in the incident and would provide mental health support as well.^[10]

Spread

The apology video was met with criticism by many, who found it disingenuous and unsatisfactory. People also criticized Scott's choice to use a black-and-white filter on the video and the way he constantly touches his face and wipes his forehead throughout it, saying he seemed tired and forced to do it. On November 7th, Twitter^[8] user @beforewashjosh posted two black-and-white screenshots of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas protagonist C.J. looking distressed and grabbing his face, gaining over 96,800 likes and 12,000 retweets in three days (shown below).

On November 8th, TikToker^[7] @kaballer72 posted a parody of the apology video, mimicking Scott's mannerisms and pretending to read from a script, gaining over 12 million views in two days (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[9] @breon_is_extraordinary4 posted a similar parody video, gaining over 23.7 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On November 8th, Cr1tikal posted a video reacting to the apology video, criticizing its black-and-white filter as making the video seem like Scott doesn't care, saying Scott seems tired and pointing out a number of seeming lies and disingenuous behavior throughout, gaining over 3.7 million views in two days (shown below).

On November 9th, YouTuber PewDiePie posted a review of the apology video, gaining over 3.4 million views in a day. PewDiePie criticized the apology, saying Scott isn't taking enough accountability in the video and isn't being genuine about not seeing anything going on in the crowd (shown below). On November 10th, YouTuber^[11] Lessons In Meme Culture posted a video about the apology.

Various Examples

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