Ireland Baldwin 'triggered' by Astroworld tragedy, 3 weeks after 'Rust' shooting: 'So many people to be blamed'
In the wake of the tragedy at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston, Ireland Baldwin reprimanded people for spreading misinformation.
"Making baseless, misinformed claims and conspiracy theories all over the internet does nothing but [take] away from the facts and actually honoring those who are suffering due to this," she wrote in one of a series of social media posts over the weekend. "I was personally 'triggered' because of recent misinformation that spread from the tragic event that took place on my father's movie set. And SO many people pretending like they have any idea how filmmaking and stunt coordination works."
"There are absolutely no parallels to be drawn between these tragedies other than there are people [whose] entire job is to keep somebody safe," she continued. "In this horrific Astroworld incident, there are so many people to be blamed for something this catastrophic happening. We are on the same page. I think more than one person should be held accountable."
Eight people, including a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old, died at the concert and hundreds more attendees were injured after concertgoers apparently pushed toward the stage about 9:30 p.m. at Houston's NRG Park. Roughly 50,000 people were in attendance.
Baldwin, the 26-year-old daughter of Alec Baldwin — who accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust after being handed a prop gun that he was told wasn't loaded for a scene — had at first appeared to be defending Scott.
"Y'all are really killing me these days," she wrote in her initial comment on the subject in a now expired Instagram Story, according to multiple reports. "You believe everything that you see on Twitter and TikTok and completely bandwagon on spreading misinformation. First, you were armory/stunt coordination pros when it came to the horrific tragedy involving my dad...and now Travis Scott is demonic because he ALLOWED people to die at his show?"
She added that she was "heartbroken" for those who lost loved ones.
"Everyone should feel safe when they are going to enjoy live music. But it's not Travis Scott's fault," Baldwin wrote. "Any actual musician would validate that you can't see or hear anyone up there. Especially when wearing in-ear monitors. C'mon people...do a little research before you go spewing cancel culture bullshit. People lost their children at this show and [all] you've got [to] say is that Travis Scott's music is demonic and [he] belongs in prison? Jesus."
Scott, who said he didn't understand what was happening in the crowd, continued to perform as his fans struggled. Official investigations on exactly what went wrong are underway. For his part, Scott has already offered to pay for the funerals of those who died and for online therapy for ticketholders.
The model wrote in a subsequent message that her earlier comments were misconstrued.
"I am in no way defending Travis Scott because, honestly, I don't know him or care personally," she said, "and the only aspect of this I care about is that people died because this brand-new festival neglected to have the proper safety protocols in place."
In the Rust situation, Alec Baldwin said in a statement issued immediately after that there were "no words to convey my shock and sadness." Authorities continue to investigate, particular looking at how live rounds got on the set in the first place. Much of their focus is on Dave Halls, the film's first assistant director, who handed the prop gun to Baldwin, and the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.
The younger Baldwin said that she had "watched people get carried out on stretchers with head injuries and from ODs" at previous Scott concerts that she attended. "I've experienced this at maybe 10 other shows I've been to in my life where other punk band or rap artists played. He incites the rage. No doubt about that. But I refuse to fall into this twisted cancel culture bullshit when it's coming from people who have no idea how anything works."
On Sunday, she shared a link to a GoFundMe for families who'd been affected, and she reiterated her sympathy for them.
"The point I was trying to make was stop rage-blaming," continued. "Make informed opinions and posts. So many people are at fault. Not just one person."
Baldwin also said that the reason she spoke out on the subject in the first place is that she'd seen TikTok posts that alleged Scott had planned what happened and that he's satanic.
In fact, Rolling Stone reported Monday that such conspiracy theories continued to spread on the app and that, according to a rep, "the company is working on taking action against" such content.
