Astroworld movie released despite lawyers’ concerns
HOUSTON » The experiences of panicked concertgoers who couldn’t breathe and had no clear path to escape a massive crowd surge at last year’s deadly Astroworld music festival in Houston are featured in a documentary released Friday.
But lawyers for Live Nation, which is being sued for its role as the festival’s promoter, say they’re concerned that publicity from the documentary, “Concert Crush: The Travis Scott Festival Tragedy,” could “taint the jury pool.” A gag order has been issued in the case, but Live Nation’s lawyers say an attorney who filed lawsuits related to the tragedy also co-produced the documentary. A spokesperson for Scott, who is also being sued, was also critical.
Director Charlie Minn said he believes he has made a balanced and fair film that tries to show the public what happened.
“My job is to make the most truthful, honest, sincere documentary from the victim’s point of view. ... We need to know about these stories to prevent it from happening again,” Minn told The Associated Press.
Around 500 lawsuits have been filed since the Nov. 5 concert headlined by Scott, a popular rapper. Ten people died and hundreds of others were injured during the massive crowd surge.
The documentary, showing in 11 Texas cities including Austin, Dallas and Houston, includes interviews with several people who survived. It also features cellphone video from concertgoers in which people can be heard repeatedly screaming for help.
“It’s hard to explain to friends and family what we saw and what we actually went through and I think (the documentary) will give a lot of people the opportunity, if you weren’t there, to understand,” said Frank Alvarez, who attended the concert but does not appear in the film.
The film highlights what concertgoers experienced and what led to the tragedy, said Minn, who has also made documentaries about the deadly 2018 shooting at a suburban Houston high school and violence along the U.s.-mexico border.
The film suggests Scott could have done more to prevent the conditions that led to the casualties, but Minn said it isn’t a “hit piece toward Travis
Scott.” He said it also questions whether others, including Live Nation and Houston police, could have done more to improve safety or respond more quickly. Minn said Scott, Live Nation and Houston police declined to be interviewed for the documentary. Houston police are investigating the disaster.
In a report released in April, a task force created by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott uncovered problems with permits for such events and called for “clearly outlined triggers” for stopping such a show.
Attorneys for Live Nation expressed their concerns in an April letter to state District Judge Kristen Hawkins, who is handling all pretrial matters in the lawsuits.
“The involvement of plaintiffs’ lawyers in the film, and the publicity the filmmakers and producers are trying to generate for it raise significant issues about efforts to taint the jury pool,” Neal Manne and Kevin Yankowsky, two of Live Nation’s attorneys, wrote in the letter.
But the attorneys have not asked Hawkins to take any specific action regarding the documentary.
Manne and Yankowsky did not respond to emails seeking comment.