Astroworld Victim’s Relatives Blast Kanye West’s ‘Ridiculous’ Demand Billie Eilish Apologize
The grandparents of Astroworld’s youngest victim didn’t hold back Thursday when asked what they thought of Kanye West threatening to pull out of Coachella unless Travis Scott got an “apology” from Billie Eilish.
“To hear Kanye’s words, that’s hurtful to us. What an idiotic thing to say,” grandfather Bernon Blount, whose 9-year-old grandson Ezra Blount died following the Astroworld crowd control disaster, tells Rolling Stone.
Tericia Blount, Ezra’s grandmother, said West should be praising Eilish, not lashing out at her after she stopped a concert in Atlanta on Saturday to help a fan who was struggling to breathe.
“I think it’s just crazy, and I hate to use that word, but I think it’s ridiculous,” Tericia Blount said of West’s treatment of Eilish. “She’s making sure that she is caring for the patrons at her concert, and I just think that’s crazy of Kanye to even let that demand come out of his mouth.”
West issued his ultimatum to the Happier Than Ever singer in an Instagram post earlier Thursday. He apparently considered it a diss on his fellow rapper and de facto family member Scott, the frontman of the Nov. 5 Astroworld tragedy, when Eilish briefly paused her Saturday show because she noticed the fan was in distress.
In videos of the concert shared on social media, Eilish is heard asking her team to fetch the fan an inhaler. She then waited to make sure the concertgoer was all right before resuming her set. “We’re taking care of our people. I’m waiting for people to be OK until I keep going,” she said from the stage.
“Come on Billie we love you please apologize to Trav and to the families of the people who lost their lives no one intended this to happen,” West wrote in his post. “Trav didn’t have any idea of what was happening when he was on stage and was very hurt by what happened.”
The Donda rapper, 44, then added, “And yes Trav will be with me at Coachella but now I need Billie to apologize before I perform.”
Eilish, 20, quickly commented on the post in her own defense. “Literally never said a thing about travis. was just helping a fan,” she wrote.
“That’s crazy that he wants someone to apologize for putting the welfare of someone else before their profits. That’s someone who needed their asthma pump. They could have lost their life, right then. This world is twisted, and we have to stop doing this,” Bernon Blount tells Rolling Stone.
“I totally commend Billie Eilish for having that decency about her,” Terecia Blount says. “I think what she did was wonderful, and I would love to tell her myself how brilliant and awesome she is for doing so.”
