In the days after this month’s Astroworld Festival tragedy, Travis Scott put out a statement in which he offered to pay for the funeral expenses for the ten people who died during the event.
Several of the deceased’s families are saying they aren’t interested.
As Rolling Stone reported Monday, the family of nine-year-old Ezra Blount — the youngest victim from the festival — told Scott’s legal team they wouldn’t accept his money. Now attorneys representing four other victims say they’ve already declined the offer, noting they’d rather let the courts decide what actions best give the victims justice.
Of the 10 people who died during the festival, representatives for four of the families tell Rolling Stone they’ve rejected Scott’s offer alongside the Blount family’s refusal. Philip Corboy, the attorney for the families of 21-year-old friends Jacob Jurinek and Franco Patino, Tony Buzbee, who represents the family of 21-year-old Axel Acosta, and Richard Mithoff, attorney for the family of 14-year-old John Hilgert, all described Scott’s offer as an attempt to lessen public pressure rather than a genuine display of remorse.
It was not an offer [the Hilgerts] were going to seriously consider,” Mithoff says. “Of all the things this case is about, that’s the least of any concern. This family is set on making change and ensuring this never happens at a concert again. I find offering to pay for funerals frankly demeaning and really inappropriate to the magnitude of the tragedy that unfolded.”
Corboy says he was originally contacted by Scott’s criminal attorney before getting a follow-up from well-known attorney Daniel Petrocelli, whom Scott recently hired. Corboy said he had brief discussions with Jurinek and Patino’s families, who he said “realized quickly that all he was trying to do was trying to lessen the public outcry on his case,” Corboy said. “It took them each about three seconds to say ‘No, no no’.
My heart goes out to the family of the victims but one thing is for sure. This is far from over.
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