Athletic gear giant Nike announced Monday that it is postponing the release of a planned Travis Scott shoe in a show of sensitivity to those who were killed or injured at the rapper’s Astroworld music festival on November 5.
“Out of respect for everyone impacted by the tragic events at the Astroworld Festival, we are postponing the launch of the Air Max 1 x Cactus Jack,” the company said in a statement sent out to fans via its sneaker release app, “SNKRS.”
The company had announced the Nike x Travis Scott Air Max 270 “Cactus Trails” last year, showcasing a “vintage” design that featured a well-used look with what it called a “back-from-the-future” aesthetic. The shoe would have come in a variety of colors, with Nike’s classic swoosh logo reversed.
Ten people have now died as a result of crowds stampeding to the front of the arena during Scott’s performance, the youngest, only 9 years old.
A local fire chief has said the safety crew’s inability to reach struggling concert-goers sparked panic, and security was overwhelmed by the fan surge. According to eyewitnesses, the show continued for about 40 minutes after initial reports that people were being hurt reached first responders.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Scott had a history of making light of injuries at his concerts:
“TO THE KID THAT DIDNT SURVIVE THE RODEO. UR A HERO IN MU BOOK,” Scott wrote in a caption underneath a photo of a young man who passed out during Scott’s 2015 concert with Young Thug at Webster Hall in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The photo was posted the day after the show. Just before that photo was posted, a video of Scott performing his song “Quintana in NYC” was posted to his page, with the caption “BEFORE A KID PASS OUT,” seemingly referring to the unconscious fan.
Another photo posted to Instagram several weeks after showed another fan passed out at the final concert of Scott’s 2015 tour. “Last day of tour was tonight very wild. To that kid who blackout. Ur a hero,” Scott captioned the post. Scott seemingly had a trend of calling the unconscious or injured fans “heroes.” Scott posted another picture in 2014, screencapped by TMZ, of a fan passed out at a show, with the simple caption, “WTF.” As of the publishing of the New York Post piece, the photos were still available on Scott’s Instagram page. As of the publishing of this article, they have been removed.
Scott also posted images of injured fans with captions. “SHE BROKE HER HAND AND SHE DOESN’T GIVE A F***!!!” read one caption. “IT’S NOT A SHOW UNTIL SOMEONE PASS OUT,” read another. Another image screencapped by the Post shows a young man smiling while bleeding from his eye, with the caption, “I love u.”
Multiple lawsuits have already been filed against Scott, promoter Live Nation, and the venue, NRG Park. Houston police are investigating. But because the department was responsible for some crowd control duties at the festival, some are calling for an independent probe.