Astroworld disaster fuels wave of satanic conspiracy theories on TikTok
''Videos of the Astroworld crowd crush that killed
eight people flooded TikTok over the weekend. But conspiracy theories have also flourished alongside the graphic footage, accusing the rapper Travis Scott, who founded and performed at the festival, of orchestrating a massive satanic ritual.
“This ain’t a festival, it’s a sacrifice,” reads one typical comment. “The music industry is demonic and collects souls,” reads another comment with 34,000 likes.
Despite its absurdity, the theory has steadily gained traction – with phrases such as “astroworld demonic”, “astroworld illuminati” and “astroworld upside down cross” trending among other AstroWorld content on the platform.
Experts say the viral misinformation illustrates how young social media users are increasingly susceptible to fringe conspiracy theories, despite their reputation as savvy “digital natives”.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/security-astroworld-1.6242029
''Evan Pond, of Simcoe, Ont., said he travelled by himself to Texas last Wednesday to attend the sold-out concert at NRG Park. The 16-year-old had arranged to meet two friends there to see rapper Scott and others perform.
"Security wasn't doing much to begin with throughout the whole day," Pond told CBC Radio's
Metro Morning. "A lot of people I talked to after the show, we all feel that they could have done a lot more."
"In some parts of the crowd, you would have people passing out, left, right. You would see people stacked up, on the floor, passed out. There's people coughing up blood, there's people puking. There are medic vans trying to get through. There's people jumping on them. It was crazy," Pond said of the scene.
When Toronto rapper Drake came on stage for a surprise performance, Pond said he was pushed down onto the ground for one or two songs. He said he found it hard to breathe, but was not injured. He was eventually able to get back up.
"I thought I was going to die; I can't lie to you. Yeah, it was really hard to breathe and It was really scary. I don't usually cry, but I was full-on crying like crazy," Pond said.''
"When you're paying for your ticket, you're paying to be protected. As well as the performance and everything, you're paying for your health and security," he said. "Personally, I felt like it was understaffed."