Rapper Roddy Ricch, who performed at the ill-fated Astroworld Festival on Friday, announced that he plans to donate his performance earnings to help the victims of the deadly crowd surge that left 8 people dead.
“Please have the families of those who we lost reach out,” Ricch, 23, wrote in an Instagram story. “I’ll [be] donating my net compensation to the families of this incident.”
Ricch performed ahead of headliner Travis Scott on Friday, as part of a lineup that also included SZA, Drake, Master P, Bad Bunny, Chase B, and Lil Baby among numerous others.
While it is unclear what caused the crowd surge, the event was reportedly unruly from the start. A video from the festival shows fans knocking over crowd barriers and storming through metal detectors at a security checkpoint at one of the festival’s entrances early on Friday before festival security and mounted police officers brought the situation under control.
Festival organizers has also drawn criticism for continuing even after it became clear the extent of the danger posed to the audience. According to the Houston Chronicle, city officials declared a “mass casualty” incident at the festival at 9:38 PM but Scott continued to perform until the scheduled end of his set at 10:15, though he did pause several times, seemingly in response to events unfolding in the audience.
