Fortnite removes Travis Scott gesture after Astroworld concert tragedy

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Epic removed Travis Scott’s “Out West” dance gesture from Fortnite following the rap star’s deadly Astroworld concert in Houston, Texas, which killed 8 people.

Epic went so far as to temporarily disable the Daily section of the Fortnite Item Shop, which rotates skins and other cosmetics and emotes on a regular basis. Scott’s gesture is believed to have been meant to be included in the latest update.

The official Fortnite Twitter Status The account later confirmed the removal from the Daily section, but did not mention Scott or his emoticon by name.

An Epic Games spokesperson declined to comment when emailed by IGN.

Scott’s Astroworld is a music festival that took place on November 5 at NRG Park in Houston. On Friday, the first day of the event, a crowd made their way to the front of the stage where Scott was performing. At least eight people have died and many more injured, according to CNN. The victims were between 14 and 27 years old, and the age of one victim is currently unknown. At least 25 people were taken to the hospital. The total number of attendees reportedly approached 50,000.

Scott quickly became the subject of intense criticism as the event and aftermath unfolded. The event continued for about 30 minutes after a mass casualty statement was made, according to yahoo news. It is currently unclear how aware Scott was of what was happening in the crowd watching his performance.

Images of the event, compiled by The Washington Post, was shared on social media. One video showed a woman climbing onto a camera operator’s platform to call for help and another video shows concert goers behind the crowd yelling “stop the show.”

Scott briefly stopped his performance at 9:42 p.m. when he noticed that a person in the crowd had passed out. Scott can be heard drawing attention to the person who has passed out and asking the crowd to turn away from them. Video from the event shows what appear to be security guards in reflective jackets arriving on site.

The second day of the show scheduled for November 6 was later canceled, and Scott issued a statement saying he was “absolutely devastated” by the events of the previous day.

Scott was previously the star of Fortnite’s first big concert event in April 2020, where the rap star was digitally recreated into a towering avatar that danced around the Fortnite Battle Royale map and transported players into space. The event marked the beginning of Epic’s push toward greater marketing collaborations and public events, and some might say it also showed the promise of Epic’s plans for their own “metaverse.”

The in-game event was viewed by 12.3 million people, according to Epic. Epic released two skins based on Scott’s Astro Jack character, plus additional cosmetics, including the “Out West” emote. Since then, Fortnite has held a similar event for pop star Ariana Grande.

It is currently unclear if Epic plans to remove any additional content related to Scott or the Astroworld brand.

(Photo by Rick Kern / Getty Images)

Joseph Knoop is a writer / producer for IGN.



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