Ben Crump says team is representing over 200 people in lawsuits over Astroworld

Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Friday that he and his team are representing more than 200 people in lawsuits over the deadly stampede that took place during Travis Scott’s performance at last week’s Astroworld Festival in Houston.

Crump’s team has filed 93 lawsuits over the festival as of Friday, attorney Alex Hilliard, who is working with Crump, said in a news conference.

Hilliard said one lawsuit filed Friday morning represents 90 plaintiffs. 

“This lawsuit is not just about getting justice for them,” Crump said. “But it’s about making sure the promoters and the organizers know that you cannot allow this to ever happen in the future, even if you have to immediately stop the concert.”  

Eight people died last Saturday and dozens were injured after a crowd surge at Scott’s concert sparked a “panic.” A ninth person, a 22-year-old student at Texas A&M University who was caught in the crush of people, succumbed to her injuries after she was declared brain dead.

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña has said that Scott should have stopped performing when the crowd began.

But Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is a spokeswoman for Scott, told “CBS This Morning” on Friday that the “notion” that the rapper could stop the concert was “ludicrous.”

“He was not responsible for this, but he wants to be responsible for the solution,” Rawlings-Blake said. “And I’m here to make sure that we can connect the dots and to make sure that this tragedy — that there’s a lesson out of this tragedy and something like this doesn’t happen again.”

Crump, who is best known for representing the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Trayvon Martin, announced on Tuesday that he and Hilliard filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of E.B., a 9-year-old who was injured at the festival.

Aside from Crump’s cases, Scott and the festival’s organizers are also facing a lawsuit from an attendee who was injured at the Astroworld event.

Live Nation, an entertainment company that organized the festival, told The Hill in a statement that it will “address all legal matters at the appropriate time.”

“We continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve,” Live Nation said. 

The Hill has reached out to Crump’s team for further comment. 

— Updated at 4:03 p.m.