TRAVIS Scott played for more than 30 minutes after his Astroworld festival was declared a mass casualty incident, according to reports.
Eight people died at the concert in Houston, Texas on Friday with victims aged between 14 and 27.
Footage posted online shows fans screaming for help, with one concert-goer yelling: “There is someone dead in there.” Other chant: “Stop the Show.”
It is not clear if officials could hear those pleas.
But it has now emerged rapper Scott played long after 9:38pm – the time Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña said the event was declared a “mass casualty”.
The New York Times and The Houston Chronicle say Scott was still on stage at 10:15pm. Reuters report 10:10pm.
Scott had briefly stopped the show at 9:42pm, calling for help for a concertgoer who had passed out. He then resumed the show, Insider reports.
Scott’s girlfriend Kylie Jenner said they did not know what had happened while he performed.
She wrote: “I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing.”
Victims of the tragedy include 21-year-old student Axel Acosta and schoolboy John Hilgert, who was just 14.
Read our Travis Scott Astroworld Festival live blog for the very latest news and updates…
John told his classmate Robby Hendrix, 15, on Friday that he wanted to get to the event early so he could get a good spot, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Student Franco Patiño, 21, Danish Baig, 27, Brianna Rodriguez, 16, Jacob Jurinek, and Rudy Peña, 23, are also among the victims.
The Sun reported over the weekend how video from Scott’s performances throughout his career show him encouraging fans to leap from balconies or turning on venue security guards.
He has been arrested twice for particularly violent concerts, including once for inciting a riot as he urged fans to rush the stage as the crowds broke through barricades.
And Scott once bragged in an interview with Power 106 Los Angeles about one chaotic concert while being quizzed a separate incident where he got into a spat with a photographer on stage.
Deflecting from the incident with snapper Jameer Pond at Summer Jam in 2015, the rapper said there was “even more cooler s**t” that happened at the show.
“Before that, like over 500 kids broke a barricade just to rush over to the frontline, that should have been the crazy headline,” Scott said.
Scott, Drake, and Astroworld festival organizers Live Nation are reportedly being sued for damages following the fatal tragedy.
TMZ reported on Sunday that civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump is representing victims who are suing Travis Scott and Live Nation following the disaster.
Videos online show Scott encouraging reckless behaviour at his concerts, including one particularly disturbing incident from a 2017 performance in New York.
Scott can be seen encouraging fans to jump from high balconies, saying “I see you, your gonna do it” and “don’t be scared” as they hang from railings during his performance.
Other videos show other fans also leaping from the balconies, and one concert goer, Kyle Green, was paralysed at the show after he was pushed and filed a lawsuit against Scott.
Green’s attorney Howard Hershenhorn told Rolling Stone that the 27-year-old is “devastated” by what happened at Astroworld.
“He’s even more incensed by the fact that it could have been avoided had Travis learned his lesson in the past”, he added.
Scott was the subject of a 2019 Netflix documentary titled Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly – which shows the chaos that often erupts at his shows.
Fans can be seen with bloody noses and on crutches, with one cheerfully enthusing “I survived, I survived. It’s all good” and another saying “I thought I was going to die”.
In videos posted to Instagram on Saturday, Scott was overcome with emotion as he gave a statement about his actions during the tragic first night of the Astroworld Festival.
“My fans really mean the world to me and I always wanna leave them with a positive experience and anytime I can make out anything that’s going on, I stop the show and help them get the help they need, you know?” he said.
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