Bob Hilliard, the lawyer representing the family of the late Ezra Blount, who was one of the victims of the Astroworld Festival crowd crush, recently labeled Travis Scott and his team, "tone-deaf." Scott's attorney, Kent Schaffer, had slammed a report on the Astroworld tragedy from the Houston Police Department. He claims the HPD released it in order to hurt the sales of Scott's new album, Utopia.
In response, Hilliard told TMZ: "For an artist making his living with music, these are stunningly tone-deaf comments about this preventable tragedy that took so many lives and injured so many. Of course they would only focus on how the report's release date hurts their album sales instead of the facts contained inside of the report."
Travis Scott During Astroworld
Hilliard added: "For Mr. Scott to allow his lawyers and spokespeople to make the reckless and untrue statement that just because he was not indicted means he's blame-free is arrogant and insulting to the memory of 10-year-old Ezra as well as the other victims of this terrible night."
As for the aforementioned comments by Scott's lawyer, Schaffer told TMZ: “The timing of the Houston Police Department report’s release, coinciding with the launch of Travis Scott’s highly anticipated album, is anything but coincidental. Travis Scott and his team were, as anticipated, fully cleared of any wrongdoing associated with the Astroworld tragedy by a grand jury based on the very report released today. It is outrageous that HPD has chosen to resort to tactics that attempt to discredit Travis and his team, casting doubt on how the unfortunate events at Astroworld actually transpired while deflecting blame from their own critical failures.”
Scott released Utopia on July 28, just a day before the latest Astroworld report. The new album features collaborations with Sampha, Drake, Playboi Carti, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, Future, and many more.
[Via]