Kim Kardashian comes out in support of Travis Scott

Kim Kardashian has come out in support of Travis Scott, saying that the rapper ‘cares so much for his fans’ after eight people were killed in a crush at his Astroworld Festival.

‘Absolutely heartbroken for the lives who were lost and anyone who was hurt at Astroworld. Just like all of you, our family is in shock by the tragedy,’ Kim tweeted. 

‘We are keeping all of the victims, families and loved ones impacted in our prayers for healing – as well as Travis who we know cares so much about his fans and is truly devastated.’

Scott, 30, who shares a daughter with Kim’s sister Kylie Jenner, 24, is being sued along with Drake for ‘inciting mayhem’ at the event in Houston that saw a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl killed. 

Furious relatives of the victims are demanding that Scott be held accountable for the tragedy after he continued performing for up to 30 minutes as people were killed and crowds chanted ‘stop the show.’

The rapper, who said he was ‘devastated’ about the deaths and couldn’t ‘imagine anything like this happening,’ has twice been convicted for encouraging fans to jump security barriers and rush the stage at previous concerts. 

Kim’s rallying round Scott comes as:

Drake, 35, called it a ‘devastating tragedy’ in an Instagram post last night saying: ‘My heart is broken for the families and friends of those who lost their lives and for anyone who is suffering.

‘I will continue to pray for all of them and will be of service in any way I can. May God be with you all.’

He performed alongside Scott during the concert which saw hundreds of people injured when the crowd surged close to the stage.

Harrowing footage from the event shows Scott continuing to perform as limp bodies are carried over the heads of the crowd and people beg for him to stop singing. 

The show was called off 30 minutes before schedule, but half an hour after a ‘mass casualty event’ had already been declared by the fire department.  

In one video, an ambulance is seen trying to make its way through the crowd, taking more than 10 minutes to reach the patient.

Other footage shows two members of Scott’s entourage rush onto the stage to tell him something.

‘Y’all know what you came to do,’ Scott said, turning to the crowd, before the music started up again.

He then asked the tens of thousands in front of him to make ‘the ground shake.’ 

Scott and Drake are being sued by Kristian Paredes, 23, from Austin, Texas, who says he was left ‘severely injured’ after Drake ‘came on stage alongside Travis Scott and helped incite the crowd.’ 

He accuses Drake of continuing to perform with Scott ‘as the crowd became out of control’ and ‘ while the crowd mayhem continued.’ 

Paredes is now seeking over $1million for his bodily injuries, some of which he claims is permanent, as well as to cover medical expenses.

Scott, who is from Houston, has offered to pay funeral costs for the victims of the crush while promoter Live Nation said full refunds would be offered to all attendees.

Police have launched a criminal investigation into the incident and more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed.

Families of the eight people killed were still coming to terms with the disaster, which saw victims aged from 14 to 27 crushed to death on Friday night as the crowd of 50,000 pushed toward the stage at NRG Park as a timer clicked down to the start of the performance.

One woman, identified only as Rachel, was furious over the death of her friend Franco Patino, a 21-year-old from Illinois, studying at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

‘My friend is gone FOREVER because of Astroworld,’ she tweeted.

‘The anger I have over this is insane. Travis Scott is going to have to do a hell of a lot more than post a notes-app apology.’

A friend, going by the name Ana Lissa Marie, was distraught at the death of Jacob Jurinek, 21 – a childhood pal of Patino’s.

Jurinek was studying art and media at Southern Illinois University, and had traveled to Houston with Patino to celebrate Jurinek’s birthday.

‘I lost all my respect for Travis Scott,’ she tweeted.

‘What happened was absolutely disgusting. RIP to all the ones that lost their lives. To Jacob Jurinek, you will be missed kid. thank you for all the laughs.

‘My condolences go to all the families that lost lives.’

Others have already begun legal action against Scott and the companies that arranged the festival. 

Edgar Acosta on Monday held a press conference with Texas attorney Tony Buzbee to announce he was suing over the death of his 21-year-old son, Axel Acosta.

‘They need to make things change in these type of events,’ he said.

‘Today it was me. 

‘I lost my son. It could’ve been you,’ Acosta said. 

‘When you send your kid to have some fun, because somebody else is not providing the right… I don’t know I can explain. The right security.

‘Because it is not the first time that he has been in big events, right?

‘You can go to Disneyland and have fun. You can go to a baseball game and have fun. Because they have the right security, the right people, some people assisting those injured.

‘It’s hard to explain.’  

He added: ‘He was a great kid, excellent student. He was trying to study and going to school to be an engineer or computer programmer.’ 

Buzbee said his firm is filing suit on behalf of 35 plaintiffs, including Acosta and possibly more.

‘Certainly neither Travis Scott nor his handlers, entourage, managers, agents, promoters, organizers, or sponsors cared enough about Axel to make even a minimal effort to keep him and the others at the concert safe,’ Buzbee said. 

Buzbee pointed out lengthy list of past allegations and lawsuits against Live Nation, and detailed Scott’s criminal history, insisting that he had a reputation for holding unsafe shows.

Friday’s deaths raised eyebrows over footage showing multiple incidents of crowds stampeding towards Scott at prior performances at Lollapalooza in Chicago in 2015 and at an outdoor venue in Arkansas in 2017. Both incidents resulted in misdemeanor convictions for Scott.

A fan who was paralyzed after falling from a balcony during a Scott concert in 2017 has blasted the singer for putting fans’ safety at risk.

A lawyer for Kyle Green, a 27-year-old who was injured at Scott’s April 2017 concert at Terminal 5 in New York City, says that Green was ‘devastated and heartbroken’ for the families of the eight people who died at Scott’s Friday night concert.

Green says he was forced over the edge of a balcony at the venue, which he called ‘severely crowded.’ He broke several bones and vertebrae and can only walk with a ‘significant, significant disability.’

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Green’s attorney Howard Hershenhorn said that Scott’s security picked Green up ‘like a sack of potatoes’ instead of ‘putting him in a neck brace and on the backboard.’

‘He’s even more incensed by the fact that it could have been avoided had Travis learned his lesson in the past and changed his attitude about inciting people to behave in such a reckless manner,’ Hershenhorn told Rolling Stone.

At the 2017 show, Scott had encouraged another fan to jump off the balcony.

‘I see you, but are you gonna do it?’ Scott asked. ‘They gonna catch you. Don’t be scared. Don’t be scared!’

In video of the incident, one fan can be heard saying, ‘I don’t wanna die in here.’

Green sued Scott, his manager, concert promoter Bowery Presents and a security company six months after the incident while he was still confined to a wheelchair. The case is pending.

In August 2015, the 29-year-old, who is dating Kylie Jenner, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of reckless conduct after his fans jumped a security barricade at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.

The Office of Emergency Management said at the time: ‘The performer played one song and then began telling fans to come over the barricades. Due to the security’s quick response, the situation was remedied immediately and no fans were injured.

The performer fled the scene but was arrested shortly after, according to station WLS.

‘All my real ragers jump the barricade right now. Let’s go. Come over,’ he said at the 2015 show as his young fans obliged. ‘I want chaos.’ Hundreds were seen storming towards the stage, although there were no reports of anyone being injured.

In February 2018, he pleaded guilty and paid a $7,000 fine to another misdemeanor charge – this one for disorderly conduct – after he encouraged his fans to rush the stage and bypass security at a May 2017 concert at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in the city of Rogers. 

Weeks before that, a fan at a Scott concert in Manhattan says he was carried over the side of a balcony after the rapper asked fans to rush forward, and was subsequently paralyzed as a result. 

Kim’s supermodel sister Kendall Jenner, 26, also shared a statement on the tragedy last night. 

She wrote on Instagram: ‘I’m still at a loss for words over the news from Astroworld. I’m truly broken for the families that have lost loved ones and my prayers go out to everyone involved.

‘Sending everyone who has been affected all of my love and wishing them strength during this incredibly devastating and sensitive time.’ 

Kylie attended the festival and said in a statement she and Scott did not know what was happening in the crowd during the performance. 

Former Ole Miss student, 23, who was pulled away from her brother’s arms in frenzied Astroworld stampede is identified as the deadly Travis Scott concert’s eighth victim 

By BRIAN STIEGLITZ FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and JIMMY MCCLOSKEY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM 

A 23-year-old former Ole Miss student whose brother tried to pull her to safety before she disappeared into the crowd has been identified as the eighth victim at Travis Scott‘s Astroworld concert.  

Madison Dubiski, of Cypress, and her younger brother Ty were at the concert in Houston, Texas, together on Friday night. 

They were physically pulled apart during the show, and as Ty tried to pull her to safety, Madison was sucked into the crowd, according to the Houston Chronicle. 

Dubiski is among the eight people who were killed in the ensuing frenzied stampede as rapper Scott continued with his set for at least another 30 minutes, ignoring pleas from panicked concertgoers to stop the music. Hundreds of people were injured and at least 13 are still being treated in hospital. 

Dubiski studied at the University of Mississippi between 2016 and 2017 and worked in advertising and marketing, reported the Houston Chronicle. She went to Cy-Fair High School, where she was a Varsity cheerleader and member of National Charity League, a community service organization for mothers and their daughters in middle and high school.

Friends said that her mother Michelle was her best friend and that she was very close with Ty, who graduated from Cy-Fair in 2019.  

‘She was super bright, uplifting and just an all-around sweet girl,’ Lauren Vogler, a former classmate, told the Houston Chronicle. ‘I cheered with her when we were younger, and she was always so encouraging. She was definitely the life of the party and loved by so many people.’

Dubiski was also a devoted Astros fan, her favorite color was pink and she was always there for her friends, Vogler said, adding ‘She was definitely one of the ‘too glam to give a damn!’ kind of girls.’

Riley Dimeo shared a tribute on Facebook for Dubiski, who she called her ‘best friend, secret keeper, sissy, and soulmate’ and said that after Astroworld, there ‘will forever be a piece of my heart missing’

She wrote, ‘I have never known such pure love and friendship until Madison came into my life and I’m not really sure how life will continue without her. If you were fortunate enough to know mads you knew how beautiful, sweet, kind, generous, and loving she really was. She had a special way of making every single person she encountered in life feel special, appreciated, and accepted no matter what.’

Dimeo continued, ‘I still cannot wrap my head around this tragedy or accept that fact that she is gone. Justice will come for our girl. I just know she is the most fabulous angel in Heaven. It was a true honor to call you my best friend and now my guardian angel. I love you forever. Until we meet again sissy girl. Please keep her family and friends in your thoughts and prayers through this difficult time.’ 

Other victims included University of Dayton student Franco Patino, 21, who was attending the event with his best friend, 20-year-old Jacob Jurinek, when both were trampled to death. 

Jurinek had bought the tickets six months before the show to celebrate his upcoming 21st birthday on November 20. 

The two young men grew up together in Naperville, Illinois, met in elementary school and were reuniting at the concert to celebrate. 

‘They met in elementary school [in Naperville] and were best friends every step of each other lives,’ Franco’s brother Cesar Patino told reporters.  

Patino was a huge fan of the rapper, traveling from southern Ohio to Houston for the concert, according to WGN9.  

Jurinek, better known as Jake, attended Southern Illinois University. 

Patino was studying engineering and was a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Alpha Psi Lambda.  

He was also a part of the society’s special interest house, which he founded with fellow student Andy Prieto to create.

‘Andy and I worked together day and night to make this dream come true because we believed it was a necessity to have a house for Hispanics to come together and have a little piece of familiar culture in a predominantly white institution,’ Patino said in an article about the society on the university’s website.    

Jurinek is listed as a junior studying journalism on SIU’s ‘People Finder’ site.  

‘We are brokenhearted to lose a member of the Saluki family, Jacob Jurinek, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends,’ SIU Chancellor Austin A. Lane said in a statement Sunday. ‘Jacob was a creative, intelligent young man, with a promising career in journalism and advertising. As we mourn this loss in our community, we will keep Jacob’s family and friends in our thoughts.’

John Hilgert, 14, the youngest victim of the tragedy, was a ninth grader at Memorial High School in Houston and was remembered as a talented baseball player, as well as a popular student. 

A spokesman for Spring Branch ISD said: ‘Our hearts go out to the student’s family and to his friends and our staff at Memorial. This is a terrible loss, and the entire MHS family is grieving today.

‘Please keep the student’s family in your thoughts and prayers as they face this tragedy. We will make counselors available to students next week to offer any help and support needed.’

John’s baseball coach Justin Higgs also paid a heartfelt tribute on Instagram. He wrote: ‘RIP John Hilgert. He got the Call up to the Major Leagues by the Almighty! John made an impact on anyone who met him and they always remembered him. I have memories of John I’ll never forget. 

‘You had to love the kid. No option not too cause he was who he was. He loved the game of baseball. Was a privilege to coach this young man. Many prayers go out to any of his friends, teammates, and his family… especially Ms. Hilgert. 

‘One of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met. John was an Angel the whole time I knew him… impacting others for good and he himself was a legend. The legend of John. Will meet again John. Till then watch over us my friend. Catcher, pitcher, shortstop, great kid. Lived his life to the fullest.’ 

Hilgret attended Friday’s concert with his long-time friend, Robby Hendrix, 15.

Hendrix’s mother, Tracy Faulkner, bought her son’s ticket it for his birthday and ‘ultimately regrets the decision.’

‘Everything about that night was a tragedy,’ Faulkner told the Houston Chronicle. ‘They were both in the same place at the same time and one came home and one we will never see.’

She said Hilgret and Hendrix had known each other for years and played football together.

‘John was a good student and athlete and so polite. He was the sweetest and smartest young man,’ she shared. 

Hilgert was pictured at the same time as Houston’s medical examiner shared a photo of another male victim’s body they were unable to identify.

That man’s family has since come forward, and he has been identified as Axel Acosta, 21, KTRK reported. 

Acosta had traveled from Washington to attend his first ever concert, his aunt Cynthia said. His father, Edgar, identified his remains at Memorial Medical Hospital. 

Acosta turned 21 last month, and had been studying computer science at Western Washington University. His dad said he had struggled to file a missing person’s report in the wake of the deadly crush because the family lives out of state.   

A brother of one of the other victims slammed the ‘poorly’ managed event ran by ‘horrible’ people. 

Danish Baig, 27, was one of people who died after a surge at the concert.  

Baig was killed after trying to save a relative during the stampede at the concert, his brother Basil Baig confirmed on Facebook. 

‘My brother was killed in this horrendous Astroworld event that was managed poorly and supervised by such horrible people,’ Basil wrote on Facebook. 

He commended his late brother for his ‘courageous act’ and called him a ‘beautiful soul.’  

Others whose deaths have been confirmed to various news outlets are 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez and Rodolfo ‘Rudy’ Peña, 23.

‘My brother tried to save my sister in law from these horrendous acts that were being done to her in the process he lost his life,’ Basil wrote. 

‘My brother Danish Baig [is] a beautiful soul whos[e] smile would light up the room and put everyone before himself. Last night he showed his courageous act to save my sister in law from those horrendous things that were being done. 

‘I was there and I wasn’t able to save my brother.’ 

Basil reported that people were ‘hitting,’ ‘pushing’ and ‘shoving’ and ‘did not care for anyone’s life.’ 

He also alleged that superstar rapper and baby daddy to Kylie Jenner’s daughter Stormi ‘provoked these people and made them do just that [stampede] and more he called people to the stage to jump into the crowd and did not stop the show.’ 

Basil also said: ‘This was not the end my family and I will go to the Full extent to make sure he is brought to justice.’ 

Two others were identified by their families to have died at the tragic event.  

Brianna Rodriguez, 16, People confirmed, and Rodolfo ‘Rudy’ Peña, 23, confirmed by the Laredo Morning Times, were among the eight. 

Rodriguez was a dancer and a junior in high school. 

‘Gone from our sites, but never from our hearts,’ her wrote family on Facebook. 

Her family started a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses. It has raised $8,910 out of its $30,000 goal.  

Peña was an aspiring model and had dreams of becoming a U.S. Border Patrol agent, according to USA Today.  

He drove five hours from Laredo to Houston with his friends to attend the show, where he died of cardiac arrest.  

His sister told the Laredo Morning Times: ‘My brother was the sweetest person, friendly, outgoing, he had many friends because he was always there for everyone. Yes, he was a big fan of Travis, he loved his music.’

Approximately 50,000 people attended the sold-out Astroworld Festival at NRG Park on Friday. Witnesses said the chaos broke out after Scott took the stage to perform. 

The surge happened at 9:15 p.m. and the ‘mass casualty incident’ was declared at that time. Nearly an hour later, at 10:10 p.m., the concert producer Live Nation halted the show. 

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of people were filmed stampeding through a VIP entrance at the Live Nation-organized event, sparking fears of overcrowding and poor crowd control. 

Scott, 29, continued to perform after eight people were crushed to death – including two victims aged just 14 and 16 – in what one witness described as a ‘floor of bodies.’ 

Video circulating on Twitter shows fans chanting ‘stop the show’ as concertgoers were being knocked down and crushed by other attendees.  

Although he completed his 75-minute performance, at one point Scott was filmed calling for help. In another video he stood on a platform with his microphone while chaos unfolded beneath him.

As the chaos unfolded the rapper, who completed his show, even appeared to glance in the direction of passed-out fans as the show went on. Scott halted the performance at least once was filmed calling for security to help distressed fans in the front row. 

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner revealed during a press conference Saturday that the dead ranged in age from 14 to 27. Their cause of death has not yet been determined.  

Meanwhile, Scott’s girlfriend Kylie Jenner, who is pregnant with their second child and attended the event, was blasted online for posting a clip of an ambulance tending to the injured and dead as the chaos unfolded.  

But other videos from the night showed distraught fans begging concert staff to halt the performance and help people escape the surge.

‘People are f***ing dying, I want to save somebody’s life,’ a man said as he climbed on a platform where a cameraman was filming the performance.

Source: dailymail