Houston Fire Chief Pena: Travis Scott 'Absolutely' Should Have Ended Concert When He Realized Fans Getting Hurt

Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” that rapper Travis Scott should have “absolutely” stopped Friday’s Astroworld concert when he realized people were struggling in the audience.

Co-host Savannah Guthrie asked, “Let me ask you, you lad been quoted in The New York Times saying, ‘The one person who can really call for and get a tactical pause when something goes wrong is that performer. They have that bully pulpit, and they have a responsibility.’ So let me be very blunt about it — do you believe the performer Travis Scott should have called an end to the concert once he saw what was taking place in front of the stage?”

Pena said, “Absolutely. Look, we all have a responsibility. Everybody at that event has a responsibility. Starting from the artist on down. Certainly, as soon as they became aware. There was evidence that the crowd itself was trying to approach some of their private security, the security that was in that closer to that stage, that something was wrong. At one point, there was an ambulance that was trying to make its way through the crowd .”

He added, “You know, the artist has command of that crowd. In my opinion, this is my opinion right now because everything is going to be fleshed out throughout the investigation, but certainly, the artist, if he notices something going on, he can certainly pause that performance, turn on the lights and say ‘Hey, we’re not going to continue until this thing is resolved.’ That’s one way to do it.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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