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() — Travis Scott had to finish his 2021 Astroworld festival performance in order to receive $4.5 million from Apple, a sprawling report from the Houston Police Department said.
It’s been nearly two years since 10 people, ranging in age from 9 to 27, were crushed to death during a stampede at the festival.
In July, investigators released the nearly 1,300-page report on the tragedy. It says Apple partnered with Scott to livestream the rapper’s performance, agreeing to give him $4.5 million if he completed the show.
“According to documents produced in the civil litigation, Travis Scott had five stipulations to fulfill in order to receive $4.5 million from Apple per contract. Of those five acts, one was to complete the show,” page 1,096 of the police report reads.
The report said the Apple livestream was brought on last minute to possibly help alleviate some of the debt Scott had accumulated by building his mountain stage for the show.
In the report, authorities said Scott told them he saw one person near the stage getting medical attention but overall, he thought the crowd seemed to enjoy the show. He said he didn’t see signs of serious problems, and no one told him of an emergency.
The concert continued for 37 minutes after officials declared it a mass casualty event. Houston police say Scott “stated he did not know anyone died until the show was over.”
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According to medical examiners, the 10 people killed in the incident died due to compression asphyxia. Some event workers have reported expressing safety concerns about the crowd.
A security contract worker said he texted an event organizer, saying, “Someone’s going to end up dead.”
No charges have been filed in connection to the deadly incident. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed over the deaths and injuries at the show.
Scott’s lawyer, Kent Schaffer, has said that the performer was not responsible for the tragedy.
“He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt,” Schaffer said.
Since the show, Scott created Project HEAL, a $5 million initiative that includes funding to address safety challenges for large-scale events.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
