UPDATE: Several hours after this article was published, Drake deleted the set of Astroworld photos from his Instagram and shared a statement about the tragedy.
Drake is coming under increased pressure to say something about the tragedy at Friday night’s Astroworld Festival in Houston.
At least eight people died and hundreds more were injured when the crowd surged towards the stage while Travis Scott performed and brought Drake out as a surprise special guest.
As of Monday at noon, Drake has not addressed the incident on social media. Hours after leaving the Astroworld stage, he shared a set of photos from his appearance at the festival on Instagram.
“Not feeling good about Drake posting cool concert pics and no statement out yet,” tweeted Lauren Parravicini.
“Can someone point me to Drake's thoughts and prayers victim statement about #AstroWorld?” read a tweet from Christina Kerley. “I literally can't find anything from him and I'm sure I'm missing it. Thank you.”
Drake was onstage at the Astroworld festival while people in the crowd were dying. Instead of acknowledgement or condolences he posts pictures of his performance and limits the comments so only yes-men can post. Vile pic.twitter.com/t0WhYZdmMc
— Christopher Leonard (@illustrious44) November 7, 2021
I was really expecting Drake to put out a statement recognizing the Astro World situation in some way. His team may regret staying quiet when people get done dismantling Travis Scott and go after everyone else that touched that stage.
— dej. (@xo_dejella) November 8, 2021
Something about Drake not acknowledging what happened during his set at Astroworld is really upsetting me and my homegirls..
— Ashlee on Air | Radio Host (@ashleeonair) November 7, 2021
It’s really not sitting right with me that Drake didn’t release a statement about #ASTROWORLDFest
— ℭ (@cillakilla) November 8, 2021
Though I’m a huge @Drake fan it’s disheartening that he has yet to release a statement of concern or sympathy regarding the deaths that took place at #ASTROWORLDFest. Big shoutout to @kanyewest though for dedicating his Sunday service to the individuals that lost their lives.
— Lysh Doria (@sostylysh) November 7, 2021
kinda upsetting drake didn’t acknowledge what happened at astrofest yet…
— kar (@ovolowry) November 7, 2021
Drake is out here posting pictures of Astroworld like people didn’t just die?? This man is tasteless at this point
— Floss (@Fl0ssB) November 6, 2021
even though a large portion of last week's concert (astroworld festival) was due to the irresponsibility of travis scott, it should be noted that drake could have helped out in this situation too.
— Mia (@artsylami) November 7, 2021
Is Drake going to say anything about what happened at AstroWorld?
— Nesto (@nestogaldamez) November 7, 2021
Scott addressed the tragedy on Saturday. "I'm absolutely devastated by what took place last night," Scott tweeted. "Houston PD has my total support as they continue look into the tragic loss of life.
"I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need."
In a follow-up video message via Instagram Story, Scott added: “My fans really mean the world to me. I always just want to leave them with a positive experience … I could just never imagine the severity of the situation."
In a message posted on Instagram, Scott's girlfriend Kylie Jenner said: “Travis and I are broken and devastated. I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing.”
Roddy Ricch, who performed earlier at Astroworld, said via Instagram Stories: "Please have the families of those who we lost yesterday reach out. I’ll [be] donating my net compensation to the families of this incident."
Drake is named as a defendant in at least one lawsuit filed in the wake of the tragedy. Kristian Paredes alleges Drake “came on stage alongside Travis Scott and helped incite the crowd.”
In 2015, Drake was widely criticized for not speaking up following gunfire at his official OVO Fest afterparty in Toronto killed two people. He issued a statement about a week later, blaming the delay on the advice of “my trusted advisors and counsel who worry that anything I might say could be misinterpreted.”