They say the devil works hard but Kris Jenner works harder. From sex tapes to cheating scandals, there has seemingly been nothing the Kardashian/Jenner matriarch couldn’t spin into a positive, money-making opportunity. Up until the recent Astroworld tragedy, in which 8 people died and countless others were severely injured during a Travis Scott concert, the Kardashian empire navigated every hurdle relatively seamlessly.
However, to say the Kardashians dropped the ball on their Astroworld response would be a massive understatement. “Tone-deaf” and “Insensitive” are just two examples of how the general public and the media are slamming the famous family’s series of social media posts addressing the tragedy. The day after Astroworld, Khloé Kardashian caught heat for posting a ‘sexy’ selfie with Scott Disick with the caption “About last night……” which many social media users found as insensitive considering the events that took place the same night. Similarly, Kourtney Kardashian posted photos kissing her finance and promoted her holiday gift guide on Instagram before acknowledging the incident. Although Kim Kardashian took to Twitter Monday night to defend Travis Scott, saying that the rapper ‘cares so much for his fans’ after the tragedy, her message was not well-received, particularly as it has become increasingly evident that Scott played a role in inciting the disaster.
As The Atlantic noted, public attention has focused on how Scott is notorious for goading his followers into risky rowdiness at shows. He has pleaded guilty to reckless or disorderly conduct twice—after instructing Lollapalooza attendees to climb over barricades in 2015, and after police said he tried to incite a riot at a show in 2017—and he once infamously encouraged a concertgoer to jump from a theater balcony. The 2019 Astroworld festival saw some injuries from trampling, but Scott wasn’t exactly preaching caution when hyping its sequel: On Instagram, he wrote about craving chaos after being cooped up for so long. When the concert sold out in May, he posted, “IM PUTTING A PLAN TOGETHER NOW TO GET SOME MORE OF THE WILD ONES IN. EVEN IF I GOTTA SNEAK THEM IN.”
Ultimately, while the Kardashians and Jenners are not to blame for what happened at Astroworld, Travis Scott is a member of their family and Kylie and Kendall were in attendance at the concert. Kylie cannot play dumb that they were unaware of what was going on in the crowds when the night of the concert she posted a (now deleted) Instagram story where an ambulance attempting to drive through the mob was clearly visible. The fact that the Kardashian PR machine reacted stronger, quicker and louder to an unedited, unfiltered image of Khloe than they have to this tragedy is just NOT a good look.
With 8 lives lost and Travis Scott’s hands clearly bloody, it’s going to take a lot more for the Kardashian clan to clean up this mess. Don’t be surprised if in the near future we see a pregnancy announcement from Kourtney or a Pete Davidson/Kim engagement in an effort to drown out the noise – the question is, will it work? Can the public ever forget the Astroworld fallout? My money’s on no.
