Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino Faces Deposition in Astroworld Case Following Texas Supreme Court Ruling

Despite Live Nation’s insistence that CEO Michael Rapino had no reason to be deposed over the deadly crowd crush event during Astroworld in 2021, the Texas Supreme Court sees things differently.

Rapino is being deposed in the ongoing litigation over the tragedy after the Texas Supreme Court agreed with the victims’ lawyers that the Live Nation CEO had direct involvement in key decisions. In a ruling last week, the court denied Live Nation’s petition seeking to block the deposition.

Live Nation’s attorneys argued Rapino was the sort of high-level “apex” executive who simply can’t be dragged into court cases, asserting that he was far removed from the actual decision-making surrounding the festival.

But the victims’ attorneys insisted that Rapino’s role in Astroworld was much more direct than the company would admit. Part of their evidence to that end included an email Rapino sent on the night of the disaster, instructing Live Nation’s festival director to wait for more information about the total death toll before canceling the rest of the festival. In that email, Rapino wrote, “If 5 died we would cancel.”

“Live Nation claims that Rapino was not the decision maker on whether to cancel the festival,” wrote the victims’ attorneys. “This email proves otherwise, and plaintiffs want an opportunity to examine Rapino about it.”

The ruling comes almost three years after the incident at the 2021 Astroworld festival during Travis Scott’s headlining set that left 10 dead and hundreds more injured. The tragedy led to hundreds of lawsuits against organizer Live Nation, Scott, and other key figures, seeking billions in damages altogether. Some of those cases have been settled privately, but some victims and their families are still moving toward a jury trial.

It’s as yet unknown when Rapino’s deposition will ultimately take place.