Movie about Rolling Loud festival faces backlash over Travis Scott casting in light of Astroworld tragedy

A new comedy about Rolling Loud is facing backlash for the decision to cast Travis Scott years after his own music festival left 10 people dead.

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.”

Another wrote, “This is gross and in such poor taste and for Travis Scott to be involved?!!,” while a third added, “This might be the most tone deaf casting we have ever seen, like almost offensively tone deaf, tbh.”

Others speculated that the film could serve as an attempt to distract people from the tragedy.

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“This is one of those movies where after this any web related searches to Travis Scott concert are going to redirect to this and not the one he had that got a bunch of people killed,” one wrote.

Another person added: “Are they taking the piss? Travis Scott caused multiple deaths at a music festival and now they release a film centered around him performing at a festival. It’s either attempting to wipe the original tragedy or it’s a celebrating it.”

Live Nation did not return The Independent’s request for comment on the movie.

The film, written and directed by Jeremy Garelick, is described in the synopsis as being inspired by Garelick’s own experience at Rolling Loud with his teenager. The movie will come to theaters in October.