Hours after little 9-year-old Ezra Blount became the youngest victim to die from injuries suffered at Travis Scott’s Astroworld, a manager representing promoters Live Nation and its Scoremore subsidiary reached out to a group of part-time employees who had worked at the deadly festival.
In a peppy email filled with exclamation points, the manager made it sound like the staffers hired at a rate of $7.50 per hour to perform tasks such as wristband screening wouldn’t receive their paychecks unless they signed a revised employment contract releasing Scoremore and Live Nation from any liability.
The part-time employees had been given a version of the contract to sign before the festival started, but that version appeared to be repurposed from the 2018 Astroworld Festival and still had the 2018 date right at the top.
The revised contract, which the manager sent Nov. 15 as an attachment, fixed the sloppy error, making it clear the liability release applied to the 2021 festival where 10 people suffered deadly compression asphyxia in a crowd control disaster on Nov. 5.
“Hoping to wrap up payroll and get everyone paid ASAP but I still need a few things from some of you!” the manager with an @astroworldfest.com email address wrote. “The first agreement included details from 2018. It has been updated so if you can resign and send back.”
One part-time employee who received the request said he considered it an insult. He refused to sign it.
“They essentially said, ‘You need to sign...
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