On the 5th of November the much anticipated Astroworld festival, curated by American rap sensation Travis Scott and attracting over 50,000 of his fans, ended in brutal disaster. The festival has claimed 10 lives so far with the youngest being 9 year old Ezra Blount who suffered severe injuries after being crushed in the crowds. The Blount family along with the families of several other victims are now pursuing legal action against Travis Scott, aiming to receive restitution to the tune of over $750 million.
Amongst both social media users and festival-goers there has been significant speculation about what actually happened at the festival and how was allowed to continue for so long, although the general consensus remains that Travis Scott is at least partly to blame. Scott has come under fire in the past for inciting riot-like behaviour from his fans. In 2015 he was charged with disorderly conduct after persuading fans to rush the stage at Lollapalooza festival. A 27 year old fan was pushed off a balcony resulting in permanent paralysis at a Travis Scott concert in 2017 after Scott encouraged another fan to jump.
There has also been concern for Scott’s social media presence with some saying the incidents at Astroworld were caused by a recently deleted tweet put out by Scott earlier in the year encouraging fans to sneak into the event. However, most of the criticism surrounding Travis Scott is coming from the rapper’s decision to continue the concert despite the distress in the crowd. The authorities attempted to stop the show at 9:30pm but it took a further 40 minutes for Scott to actually stop performing even though he can be seen in fan videos calling for security to help an unconscious fan in the crowd long before this.
So, what does this mean for Scott’s career in fashion?
Following the Astroworld tragedy, on the 15th of November Nike announced via their SNKRS app that they would be postponing the release of the upcoming Travis Scott x Air Max 1. Travis Scott and Nike have released over 15 collaborations, starting with the Travis Scott x Jordan Trunner LX in 2017. Scott quickly became one of Nike’s most valuable celebrity endorsers with most collaborations selling out in minutes due to Scott’s dedicated fanbase. Nike’s postponement in releasing the newest collaboration is therefore even more shocking, really showing how much Travis Scott let fans down at Astroworld.
Nike isn’t the only brand that has reconsidered their affiliation with Travis Scott. Fortnite have removed their Travis Scott emote from the online store, a notable change considering that Scott was the first celebrity to collaborate with Fortnite in such a way, leading to further collaborations with major artists like Ariana Grande.
Scott has long been known as a master collaborator, with his foot in the door of many lucrative industries. A Travis Scott McDonald’s meal, a PlayStation x Nike x Travis Scott sneaker collab, collaborations with fashion brands Evisu and Helmut Lang and even a line of seltzers with Anheuser-Busch InBev are only some of what’s made up Scott’s reported $60 million net worth.
Travis Scott, once having a promising future in the fashion sphere, is now facing a future in court with it being unclear if his time as an influential fashion figure is up.