Fortnite players convicted of mocking the death of a 9-year-old victim on Astroworld
Fortnite players have received condemnation after comments poking fun at the death of the youngest victim who died at Travis Scott's Astroworld concert went viral on TikTok.
The Travis Scott Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas ended in tragedy on November 5th when 10 people were crushed and killed by a crowd.
Following this event, an investigation was launched into the security procedures in place and Scott himself, reportedly sued with a lawsuit of more than $750 million.
One of them was a nine-year-old boy named Ezra Blount, who died at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, the family's lawyer confirmed Nov. 15. The child was placed in a medically induced coma after serious injuries.
While people around the world mourned all 10 people who paid the final price during the event, insensitive comments surfaced on social media with some people cracking jokes about the Fortnite-related tragedy of Ezra's death.
Fortnite players mock Astroworld victim
The TikTok clip posted by Vlone, which has surpassed over 6,2 million views at the time of writing, has received many comments.
These include "Bro became a paratrooper skull", which is a skin in Fortnite featuring a skeleton face, as well as "Lil bro got Boogie Bombed".
Another reads: "Bro got lost in the storm."
Engaged TikTok Users
The users behind each of these comments are montyyyy_y, uzisiins and thizzin_83. Like many social media trolling remarks, each of the accounts does not have a real name, allowing them to hide - at least publicly - behind anonymous profiles.
Thousands of comments, in response to Vlone's video, condemned the actions of these three accounts.
Travis Scott has close ties to Fortnite Battle Royale, having previously played live in the game.
However, these are just examples of what is a large pool of Fortnite troll responses. There were also nasty comments like, "At least bro made the top 9" or "Bro forgot to pick up the first aid kit."
A number of TikTok users have moved to condemn the comments. One of them wrote: "This is disgusting." Another said: "These comments are black humor, they are kids trying to act cool by making fun of those who have lost their lives."
In April 2020, Travis Scott hosted his own astronomy fest in the popular Epic Games Battle Royale game, which means the fan crossover between artist and video game developer is stronger than many others in the industry.
Following the Astroworld disaster, the game's developers removed Travis' content in the game.
Whether the Epic Games team or Travis Scott will publicly denounce such comments remains to be seen.