(NewsNation) — It was a concert turned nightmare in Houston. Ten people were killed and hundreds more injured during a massive crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival last November.
Now, almost six months after the deadly concert, a documentary about the event is opening in theaters across Texas.
“Concert Crush: The Travis Scott Festival Tragedy” interviews several people who survived the crowd surge and shows the moments leading up to the tragedy.
“Like any other teenager who’s waited so long for this concert, we didn’t have the mindset of ‘oh this is gonna go to hell,’” survivor Jonathan Espinoza said in a trailer for the film.
The film’s director, Charlie Minn, didn’t mince words when talking about Travis Scott, who was performing on stage when fans were crushed by the crowd.
“Travis Scott is a punk. Travis Scott should be in jail in my opinion,” Minn said.
The filmmaker believes the rapper is partially responsible for the deaths and pointed to Scott’s history of encouraging rowdy behavior at his shows.
“He advocates violence, chaos, jumping off balconies, breaking down barriers, sneaking in, raging, mosh-pits,” said Minn. “We’re not talking about Mary Poppins here.”
Minn has made previous films about mass tragedies, including a documentary about the 2017 Las Vegas shooting and another about the 2018 Parkland school shooting.
He believes his latest film is a balanced and objective portrayal of what happened the night of Scott’s concert.
Lawyers for Live Nation, which is also being sued for its role as the concert promoter, say they’re concerned that the documentary could “taint the jury pool.” But the attorneys have not asked District Judge Kristen Hawkins to take any specific action regarding the documentary.
Around 500 lawsuits have been filed related to the concert-turned-mass casualty event on Nov. 5.
Next month, Travis Scott will return to the stage. He’s scheduled to perform on May 7th in Miami before heading to South America for multiple shows in November. The concerts will take place just one year after the Astroworld tragedy.
In March, Scott took to Instagram writing in part: “Over the past few months I’ve been taking the time and space to grieve, reflect and do my part to heal my community. Most importantly, I want to use my resources and platform moving forward towards actionable change. This will be a lifelong journey for me and my family.”
Minn doubts the rapper’s sincerity and questioned the timing of his upcoming concerts.
“I don’t think he knows that it’s the one year anniversary. The guy doesn’t care,” said Minn.
