“It’s no coincidence”: Travis Scott’s attorney believes Astroworld tragedy report was intentionally released to hurt Utopia’s sales

The Houston police department released a final report of their investigation on Travis Scott's 2021 Astroworld tragedy, on July 28, 2023. The 2021 tragedy took the lives of 10 people with at least 4900 injured. The families mourning the loss of their loved ones sued Travis and the security teams at the concert.

The report was released only a few hours after Travis' comeback album Utopia and many speculate that the Houston PD did the same on purpose. It expressed in detail why Travis wasn't charged with any wrongdoing.

TMZ reported that Kent Schaffer, one of Scott's attorneys, said that "it's no coincidence" that the 1266 paged report dropped on the exact date of the album release. Schaffer believes the report is a plot to hurt the artist's sales.

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The Travis Scott Astroworld final report from Houston Police Department is released on Twitter

Travis Scott attends the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

The Astroworld concert took place on November 5, 2021, at the NGR Park in Houston, Texas. The 10 fans who died at the concert ranged from nine to 27 years of age. The youngest victim was a nine-year-old boy named Ezra Blount, according to AP News. Since the tragedy, families of the victims have waited patiently for the Houston police's take on the matter.

As mentioned earlier, the Houston PD released a detailed report of more than 1200 pages that reportedly took them more than four weeks to finish. The Houston PD also released the official report to the public on Twitter with certain details redacted. It noted that certain things were redacted with "applicable law and privacy concerns," these included but weren't limited to birthdates, social security numbers, and addresses.

They concluded the thread saying:

"We continue to pray for the victims and families affected by the Astroworld tragedy."

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Travis' team responds to the article and its alleged inaccuracies

TMZ released an article a day later where they included an exclusive with Travis Scott's attorney and a representative of his team who had their opinions on the same. The representative expressed how the Houston PD was resorting to tactics in order to discredit Travis and his team. The representative added that the police were trying to cast doubt on how the "unfortunate events at Astroworld actually transpired while deflecting blame from their own critical failures."

According to the rep, the report had many inaccuracies. They added that Travis stopped the concert the moment he was notified of the ruckus through his earpiece without any delay.

"However, Houston police officers present at the event did not intervene during the unfolding situation. They were observed throughout the show standing by idly, buying merch and even filming the concert in its entirety," the representative told the publication.

Kent Schaffer, one of Travis Scott's attorneys also added that the Houston PD wanted to hurt the musician's sales. He added that they also wanted to take some heat off the law enforcement for not charging Travis with a crime.

The Houston PD however said that the release date was simply a coincidence, according to TMZ.

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The lawsuits against Travis Scott for the Astroworld fest

The Harris County grand jury had already declined to charge anyone in Travis Scott's team, including the rapper during the criminal investigation. The grand jury refused to indict Travis Scott on June 29, 2023, for the 10 deaths that took place at the Astroworld concert.

However, the Utopia rapper and Live Nation are still facing around 400 civil lawsuits filed by the alleged victims of the incident, according to Billboard. The lawsuits claim that the parties involved in the organization of the concert were negligent and failed to provide proper security measures and emergency support.