Danny Cevallos: After Texas concert deaths, Travis Scott faces multiple lawsuits. Is the performer liable? - NBCNewsTHINK
, urged his fans to make “the ground shake.” If true, that’s better evidence of incitement — but it could also be Scott asking his fans to cheer, or some other innocuous request.
Even if evidence emerges that someone informed Scott of the evolving crises on the field, the question then arises: Is the performer the person who makes the call to stop the concert? Do they even have the power to stop a crowd with their voice? Would it be enough to absolve Scott if he had tried to calm everyone down but failed? What if the artist can’t see the surge from the stage?
There’s a famous clip from years ago of Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl stopping mid-song during a concert and yelling at an audience member whom he supposedly saw fighting with other people. Kudos to Grohl for being willing to stop a show to stop fights — but would anyone have said it was Grohl’s responsibility to conduct security sweeps of the venue, during a concert, while singing and playing an instrument? Probably not.
Now, if performers knowingly and intentionally incite crowd surges, that’s a very different situation. Knowing incitement of a crowd crush blasts right past negligence and is more than reckless enough to qualify for criminal liability. Any performer who does so should be held criminally and civilly responsible for resulting damages.
Scott’s past history could be relevant in a case in which he was found to have knowingly incited a dangerous surge, demonstrating that he knew that he had the power to encourage a crowd surge from past experience. But absent actual proof that he called for a stampede, his status as a performer arguably puts him far down on the chain of command when it comes to crowd security.
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