Astroworld Gag Order: Add Travis Scott or ‘Rescind,’ Vic’s Dad Says

The authorized battle raging over the gag order that has muzzled attorneys representing Astroworld victims and attendees however not Travis Scott himself intensified Friday when the daddy of the lethal live performance’s youngest sufferer requested a Texas choose to both pull the rap musician underneath the case’s cone of silence or “rescind” the order altogether.

In a brand new submitting obtained by Rolling Stone, Treston Blount, the dad whose 9-year-old son Ezra Blount was one of many 10 victims to die from Astroworld crowd crush accidents final November, argues for the primary time that the publicity order ought to be scrapped if it’s not prolonged to Scott.

“If defendant Scott’s First Modification considerations are real and legally supportable,” Treston’s submitting says, the courtroom ought to “rescind the publicity order in order that the taking part in area is stage.”

The dad and his attorneys, Ben Crump and Robert Hilliard, beforehand requested in an emergency movement filed Wednesday that the courtroom make clear or amend the gag order to clarify it covers Scott. They argued that Scott’s Tuesday announcement of a $5 million philanthropic effort at the least partially geared toward addressing “security challenges for large-scale occasions” violated the spirit of the order, if not the letter.

Chatting with Rolling Stone, Ezra’s grandma, Tericia Blount, known as Scott’s “Undertaking HEAL” announcement a “PR stunt” designed to “sway the jurors earlier than they’re even assembled.”

Scott’s attorneys shot again in a reply submitting Thursday, saying the musician has a First Modification proper “to talk publicly about necessary philanthropic work.”

Within the new Friday submitting, Treston Blount and his attorneys say their downside isn’t with Scott donating cash, it’s with the artist touting such work by way of a “extremely refined advertising marketing campaign” designed as “fame restore.”

“Group Scott has expertly deployed a well-worn diversion technique: Dump a ton of cash into new packages, ensure the world is aware of you might be doing it, after which look forward to the applause,” the Friday submitting claims.

“Hilliard’s bogus allegations proceed to fly within the face of logic. Travis’ assist of charitable causes has been ongoing for years and has helped underprivileged younger individuals graduate with out debt, discover artistic fields and overcome psychological well being challenges,” Stephanie Rawlings Blake, a spokesperson for Scott, shoots again in a brand new assertion to Rolling Stone.

A listening to on the emergency movement to make clear, amend — or now rescind — the gag order within the case has been set for March 28.

Scott, 30, is likely one of the chief defendants within the greater than 380 lawsuits filed by victims and attendees which have been mixed into one grasp Astroworld case. The fits are looking for billions in damages from Scott, Stay Nation, Up to date Companies Corp., Apple, and different defendants with claims the lethal Astroworld pageant was negligently deliberate and staged, resulting in the preventable scenario the place attendees had been trampled and suffocated as Scott carried out.

Presiding Decide Kristen Hawkins with the eleventh District Court docket of Harris County signed the sweeping gag order Feb. 15, “proscribing” all of the attorneys from making public feedback that contain matters such because the “character” of individuals concerned within the advanced case or info that might be “inadmissible as proof in a trial.”