Astroworld report timing 'intentional' to hurt Travis Scott's 'Utopia'
Travis Scott's lawyer says the timing of a 1,266-page Houston Police Department report about the Astroworld Festival tragedy was an intentional effort to hurt sales of the rapper's fourth solo album, "Utopia."
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"It is a coincidence that I do not believe in," said Kent Schaffer, Scott's lawyer. "They knew when the album was coming out, and they released the report just hours after the release, probably hoping to drum up bad publicity for Travis."
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the timing was coincidental.
"In my news conference on June 29, I stated I would release the police incident report surrounding the Travis Scott Astroworld concert. The redaction of the 1,266 pages was completed on Thursday, July 27. We released the police incident report on Friday, July 28," Finner said.
Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer
"Utopia" was released Friday, followed hours later by the HPD report. Authors of the report were critical of multiple agencies and cited poor training and communication as contributing factors to the chaos that resulted in the deaths of 10 people. They did not, however, place the blame specifically on Scott or event personnel.
Last month, a Harris County grand jury declined to indict Scott or other event officials on criminal charges. Civil lawsuits brought by festival attendees are pending.
"While inconvenient, the truth is that there is probably not one person who will forgo buying the album because of the release of the HPD report, so in the end it will probably not matter," Schaffer said.
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The response so far to "Utopia" seems to validate Schaffer's statement. The album's 19 tracks, featuring a bevy of guests including Beyoncé and Drake, have racked up more than 250 million streams on Spotify alone. Final figures will update later this week, but estimates say "Utopia" will tally at or near 500,000 album-equivalent units when streaming and physical sales are combined. That number will make it one of the biggest releases of the year.
The accompanying "Circus Maximus" film featuring music from "Utopia" opened Thursday night to sold-out screenings across Houston. It plays through Wednesday at AMC theaters and includes direction by Gaspar Noe, Harmony Korine, Kahlil Joseph and others, along with a standout appearance by Beaumont native Teezo Touchdown.
According to the report, Scott told HPD investigators he did not realize the gravity of the Astroworld situation until arriving home after the show. In the aftermath of the tragedy, he announced a series of long-term initiatives that included addressing safety at large-scale live events, mental health resources for young people of color and scholarships for Black students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Source: Houston Chronicle
