Live Nation, Apple, Travis Scott Sued for $2 Billion Over Astroworld Disaster

(Bloomberg) -- Live Nation Entertainment Inc., Apple Inc. and U.S. rapper Travis Scott were sued for $2 billion by hundreds of people who say they were injured when a crowd of 50,000 people was “incited into a frenzy” at the deadly Astroworld concert earlier this month.

The complaint filed Thursday in state court in Houston amended an earlier lawsuit brought shortly after the Nov. 5 concert in which 10 people were killed and hundreds injured. The revised complaint increased the number of plaintiffs to 282 people, making it the largest case so far over the event. Lawyer Thomas J. Henry said he was talking to an additional 120 concert attendees about joining his case.

Another suit filed Monday on behalf of 125 concert attendees, including one of those who died, asked for more than $750 million in damages.

Live Nation promoted the concert while Apple Music live-streamed the event. NRG Stadium and Canadian rapper and singer Drake were also sued.

‘Cut Corners’

“The defendants stood to make an exorbitant amount of money off of this event, and they still chose to cut corners, cut costs, and put attendees at risk,” Henry said in a statement.

Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, could have prevented the carnage if it had prepared properly for an event with a performer known for getting fans riled up, the suit brought by Henry alleged. Scott, a Houston native, pleaded guilty twice before to public disorder charges for encouraging fans to ignore security measures and rush the stage at concerts in Chicago in 2015 and Arkansas in 2017.

The inclusion of deep-pocketed defendants, including some that only were tangentially involved in the planning of the concert, was “inevitable,” said Scott D. Tenley, a former federal prosecutor who’s now a white-collar criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles and isn’t involved in the case.

“Some would argue, myself included, that this strategy is more than a bit transparent,” Tenley said. “This is particularly true for Apple, which will surely argue it could not have foreseen that Live Nation, Astroworld promoters, event security, and NRG Park wouldn’t take the appropriate safety and security precautions.”

Live Nation and Apple didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment. David Byrnes, a lawyer for Scott, also didn’t return a message.

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