Travis Scott’s offer to cowl the funeral bills for nine-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest sufferer to die at Astroworld, was rebuffed by the boy’s household in a brand new heartbreaking letter obtained Monday by Rolling Stone.
“Your client’s offer is declined. I have no doubt Mr. Scott feels remorse. His journey ahead will be painful. He must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy,” Blount household lawyer Bob Hilliard mentioned within the blistering response.
The offer from Scott was despatched to Hilliard and his co-counsel Ben Crump final Wednesday by the rapper’s new lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli. Ezra was laid to relaxation the day earlier than, on Nov. 23, at a funeral in Texas.
“Travis is devastated by the tragedy that occurred at the Astroworld Festival and grieves for the families whose loved ones died or were injured. Travis is committed to doing his part to help the families who have suffered and begin the long process of healing in the Houston community. Toward that end, Travis would like to pay for the funeral expenses for Mr. Blount’s son,” Petrocelli wrote.
Petrocelli, well-known for representing Fred Goldman on the wrongful loss of life trial that discovered O.J. Simpson civilly answerable for the deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, claimed in his Wednesday letter that acceptance of Scott’s offer would “have no effect” on the lawsuit filed by Ezra’s dad, Treston Blount, in opposition to Scott and others.
In his reply, Hilliard mentioned that “for now,” Scott “must respect” that his personal “devastation” pales compared to that of Ezra’s household.
“There may be, and I hope there is, redemption and growth for him on the other side of what this painful process will be — and perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet, as there is also healing in that,” Hilliard wrote.
Within the meantime, he likened Ezra’s loss of life to “a faucet of unimaginable pain that has no off handle.”
“To lose a child in the manner Treston lost Ezra compounds the pain,” he wrote. “As a parent, Treston cannot help but agonize over the terrible idea that Ezra’s last minutes were filled with terror, suffering, suffocation and worst of all surrounded by strangers, his dad unconscious underneath the uncontrolled crowd.”
Talking to Rolling Stone on Monday, Hilliard mentioned Scott’s camp beforehand reached out to Crump relating to the opportunity of establishing an in-person assembly. “We were pretty firm. With all due respect, no. This isn’t a photo-op story here. This is a ‘who’s responsible and why’ type of investigation. And he’s on the short list,” Hilliard mentioned of Scott.
Ezra was on his dad’s shoulders at Scott’s Astroworld Pageant in Houston on Nov. 5 when the 2 turned trapped within the lethal crowd surge that claimed the lives of 10 individuals, the boy’s grandparents beforehand confirmed to Rolling Stone.
“Everyone was pushing. It was so tight with no exits. His dad couldn’t breathe at all and passed out. We don’t really know what happened to Ezra after that,” grandmother Tericia Blount mentioned. The household later discovered Ezra at a close-by hospital listed as a John Doe. He lingered in a medically induced coma for days and died of irreversible organ failure on Nov. 14.
Alex Hilliard, one other lawyer representing the Blount household, mentioned Monday that Treston and Ezra’s mother, Tamara Byrd, are “attempting to band together and move forward, but it’s a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute survival mode they’re in.”
“No parents should ever have to experience what Tamara and Treston have experienced,” he mentioned.
In a video remembering Ezra shared on a GoFundMe web page for the household, the boy who beloved skateboarding and Fortnite is seen performing out a SpongeBob SquarePants meme and lip-syncing together with his dad.
Petrocelli didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Rolling Stone on Monday. Now the chair of the trial apply at O’Melveny in Los Angeles, he additionally famously represented Donald Trump and his now-defunct Trump College in school motion lawsuits that settled for $25 million.