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Travis Scott Warned by Houston Police Chief Hours Before Astroworld: Report

The Houston police chief said he visited Scott to share concerns about the rapper’s tendency to rile up the crowds.

The chief of the Houston police department said he visited rapper Travis Scott on the day of the disastrous Astroworld Festival, according to a person with knowledge of the chief’s account. The New York Times reported Sunday that the chief, Troy Finner, went to Scott’s trailer to relay concerns about crowd control that evening. Finner, who knows Scott personally, reportedly worried over the excitability of the fans attending the concert, given Scott’s reputation for inciting his fans to “rage.” The rapper has been arrested several times for urging audiences to rush security gates at past shows, including Lollapalooza in 2015. Despite the efforts of the police department and festival organizer Live Nation, which included hiring extra private security, Scott’s set turned into a nightmare when an uncontrollable crowd surge around 9 p.m. crushed and killed eight people and sent scores more to the hospital.

According to a police timeline of the evening, the concert wasn’t ended until nearly 40 minutes after a “mass casualty event” had been declared by authorities. Fire Chief Samuel Peña told the Times on Sunday that Scott and the organizers had the “bully pulpit” and “the responsibility” to step in and stop the show. Instead, the rapper noted the presence of an ambulance in the crowd and asked his fans to make “the ground shake” before launching into his next song.