Many are probably aware of the devasting injuries and deaths that took place at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival last weekend. As of now, there are eight reported deaths and over 300 injuries from the mayhem the concert caused. Those injured, are blaming rappers Travis Scott and Drake for “inciting the mayhem” and filing lawsuits against them.

This is negative news for both rappers. As an avid social media user, I have been seeing negative posts about Travis from users all over Tik Tok. Users are blaming him for the tragic deaths and saying it was disrespectful for him to continue playing on stage while these incidents were taking place.

The rapper has already addressed the situation in a personal video he posted on social media, however, people are say that is not enough for what happened.

From a PR perspective, I agree with the other people saying Travis’s response was not enough. This situation is a PR frenzy itself. As I mentioned before, the tragic events that took place gave Travis and his brand a bad reputation, but now people are taking to media trying to cancel the rapper and his music.

Therefore, if I was a member of Travis’s PR team, I would first release a personal statement to each family of the deceased then another one to everyone injured. Next, it would be important for Travis to address the public. He already did this with an Instagram video; however, I would tell him to execute the video differently. The video he posted, almost did not seem sincere enough which many people agreed with. However, I would still recommend posting a video on social media to reach the public. In this video it is important for him to recognize the lives that were lost and the people who were injured.

Adding on, as a member of his PR team, my goal would be to maintain a positive reputation. By this, I would recommend Travis to apologize for continuing to perform even though he saw ambulances in the crowd. Also, I would have him state that in the moment he did not know what was going on until after he was notified, or he would’ve stopped the show immediately.

In PR it is important to tell the truth, and this is what I would want Travis to do.  I know this is the truth because he did claim he did not know what was going on until he was told by his team. Although I do believe he should have stopped the show when he saw ambulances in the crowd, Travis was unaware and should let the public know.

This tragic event is devasting and even though I disagree with the way Travis and his team, responded to the incident, this is does call for PR action and I would handle the situation differently.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/08/astroworld-travis-scott-drake-sued-deadly-texas-concert-crush