The family of Ezra Blount, a 9-year-old who was killed during the infamous Astroworld Festival, has a message for Travis Scott and his new Project HEAL initiative: “It’s a PR stunt.”
As Blavity previously reported, Travis Scott announced the launch of Project HEAL earlier this week on Instagram “to take much-needed action toward supporting real solutions that make all events the safest spaces they can possibly be.” The rapper also said that the initiative, described as a “multi-tier, long-term series of community-focused philanthropy and investment efforts,” was being done in honor of the 10 Astroworld victims.
In response to Project HEAL, Blount’s grandparents, Tericia and Bernon Blount, have shared that they doubt the rapper’s intentions.
“It’s a PR stunt. He’s pretty much trying to sway the jurors before they’re even assembled,” Tericia Blount said in a recent interview. “He’s trying to make himself look good, but it doesn’t look that way to someone with our eyes. What we’re seeing is that he’s done wrong and now he’s trying to be the good guy and trying to give his own verdict on safety.”
On top of this scathing criticism, attorney Robert Hillard noted that Travis Scott may have violated the family’s gag order on the matter, as he says Project HEAL is “designed to gain goodwill and prejudice Blount and the other plaintiffs’ ability to obtain a fair trial in this case.”
However, former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a spokesperson for the rapper, contested this claim and fired back.
“It is disappointing that Mr. Hilliard would attack Project HEAL, a series of philanthropic gestures designed to give students and young people a leg up. Project HEAL is a continuation of Travis Scott’s long-standing work, including academic scholarships and creative design programs for underprivileged students,” she said.
“Mr. Hilliard’s outburst holds no merit and is just a publicity stunt when the court expressly prohibited the very same actions that Mr. Hilliard has engaged in,” Rawlings-Blake added.
A rep for Travis Scott defended Project HEAL and called the lawyer for an Astroworld victim’s father “shameful and beyond cynical” over his allegations that Scott’s team violated a gag order https://t.co/bVNYo3qZRN
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) March 10, 2022
Shortly after that, Travis Scott’s legal team filed paperwork to formally defend the rapper’s right to “make public statements about his ongoing philanthropic work, even as it relates to public safety.”
The attorneys also referenced the First Amendment, which they said: “guarantees parties like Mr. Scott the right to speak publicly about important philanthropic work that began long before the Astroworld Festival or… almost immediately afterward.” However, the Blounts disagree and the parties have resultingly become engaged in an escalating “gag order war.”
This isn’t the first time the Blount family has pushed back against Travis Scott’s post-Astroworld efforts. In late Nov., less than a month after the Houston-based tragedy, the family outright declined the rapper’s offer to cover Ezra’s funeral expenses.
