Astroworld: Travis Scott offers to pay funeral expenses for victims

Travis Scott will pay the funeral costs for the eight victims who died at his Astroworld Festival event last week (5 November).

The “mass casualty incident” that occurred during Scott’s set also left hundreds injured. Those who died were between 14 and 27 years old.

Now, a new press release issued says Scott will pay the funeral expenses for those who died at the event in Houston, Texas and will also offer mental health support to those affected by the events.

It read: “Travis Scott...will cover all funeral costs and provide further aid for individuals affected by the November 5th tragedy at Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas.

“In addition, Travis has partnered with BetterHelp to supply free one-on-one online therapy, and is working closely with NAMI, MHA National, and MHA of Greater Houston (Mental Health America) to direct all those in need to proper mental health services. Travis remains in active conversations with the city of Houston, law enforcement and local first responders to respectfully and appropriately connect with the individuals and families of those involved.

“These are the first of many steps Travis plans on taking as a part of his personal vow to assist those affected throughout their grieving and recovery process.”

It continued: “As part of the emotional support efforts, BetterHelp, in conjunction with Travis, will be offering free one-on-one sessions with a licensed therapist for those who sign up using their dedicated link.

“BetterHelp will also direct those in immediate need to NAMI, who has a dedicated national hotline, available Monday - Friday from 10am to 10pm ET. This hotline can be reached at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264). NAMI’s Greater Houston chapter will direct incoming callers to the BetterHelp portal established via this partnership and ensure access to various counselling services, psycho-education, community-based healing circles, support groups, and other related services.”

It concluded: “Travis is grateful to be working alongside BetterHelp, a renowned mental health service provider and to be able to quickly provide this fundamental care and support. Further relief efforts to be announced in the coming days and weeks.”

Last week, Scott spoke out about the incident on his Instagram saying he was “honestly just devastated”.

He told his followers: “I just wanna send out prayers to the ones that was lost last night. We’re actually working now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.”

Scott said that he “could never just imagine anything like this happening”, adding that his fans “really mean the world to me”.

“I always just wanna leave them with a positive experience,” he said, urging his followers to “contact your local authorities” should they have “any information” about what caused the incident.

Scott, who was born in Houston, said festival organisers were working with Houston’s police, fire department and city authority “to get to the bottom” of what happened.

The Astroworld Festival was founded only four years ago by Scott himself, on the grounds of a defunct amusement park called Six Flags Astroworld, which closed in 2005.

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