Rolling Loud festival movie faces backlash over Travis Scott casting after Astroworld

A new comedy film, Rolling Loud The Movie, is generating backlash over its casting of Travis Scott. The teaser shows Owen Wilson sneaking his teenage son into Rolling Loud, where Scott appears as a version of himself. The trailer release drew criticism because the premise resembles the events surrounding Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston, where 10 concertgoers died from crowd crush and compressive asphyxiation in November 2021. Eight died at the festival and two later at the hospital, with 25 hospitalized and more than 300 injured. A Houston grand jury found no single criminally responsible individual, wrongful death lawsuits were settled out of court, and Scott expressed devastation. Viewers called the casting insensitive and disrespectful.

"The first teaser for Rolling Loud The Movie, starring Owen Wilson and controversial comedian Matt Rife, shows Wilson's character sneaking his teenage son into Rolling Loud - one of the largest hip-hop music festivals in the world - where the headliner is Scott, who plays a version of himself. However, the trailer's release Tuesday sparked controversy as many people pointed out the similarities between the movie's premise and the previous tragedy that occurred during Scott's Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas."

"In November 2021, 10 concertgoers ranging in age from nine to 27 years old were killed by crowd crush and compressive asphyxiation during Scott's concert at the festival. Eight people were pronounced dead on the day of the festival, while two more died later at the hospital. The incident left 25 others hospitalized and more than 300 attendees injured."

"Despite outrage directed toward Scott and co-organizer Live Nation after the tragedy, a Houston grand jury determined that no single individual was criminally responsible for the deaths. All 10 wrongful death lawsuits were settled out of court, and Scott issued a statement saying that he was devastated over the tragedy."

"Now, with Live Nation Studios behind the new movie, people are accusing the film of being insensitive and "tone deaf" by casting Scott. "You cannot ignore the history here," one viewer wrote on X. "Turning a real tragedy into comedy material with the same artist involved is disrespectful to the families who lost loved ones.""

Read at The Independent