Travis Scott Faces New Legal Fight Amid Confirmation He Won't Headline Coachella
It wasn't so long ago that Travis Scott seemingly sat atop the music world. But that all changed after Scott's November 2021 Astroworld Festival performance — a concert that left 10 dead and 300 injured following a fan stampede, according to Rolling Stone.
Since the tragedy, Scott has seen lawsuit after lawsuit, including a $750 million one against him and Drake, per NBC News. Scott also had numerous corporate deals fall apart. The embattled rapper's CACTI Agave Spiked Seltzer, produced in partnership with Anheuser-Busch, was discontinued following Astroworld. "We believe brand fans will understand and respect this decision," an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said to CNN Business. According to CNET, Scott has also lost deals with Nike, Dior, and his emote got removed from the Fortnite video game.
On January 5, TMZ reported that Billie Eilish and the Swedish House Mafia filled two of the three headliner spots at 2022's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Scott, reportedly among the headliners at the 2020 festival (twice-delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic), was confirmed on January 11 as being dropped from the lineup, with Kanye West and Harry Styles rounding out the remaining spots, noted Billboard. But wait — when it rains, it is a full-blown hurricane for Scott. Case in point: Amid the Coachella news, he got slapped with a new lawsuit.
French artist claims Travis Scott stole his artwork
Travis Scott is now in hot water over allegedly stolen artwork. In a legal filing filed in France by artist Mickaël Mehala, as reported by TMZ, Mehala alleges Scott had stolen the ubiquitous centaur illustration for the cover of 2016's compilation project, "Travis La Flame." Mehala claims he created the artwork in 2015 and sent it to Scott in an Instagram DM the same year "Travis La Flame" got released. Never hearing back from Scott, Mehala said he was shocked when he suddenly saw his supposed artwork —which he claims he had copyrighted in 2019 — everywhere online, including being featured on Scott's official YouTube page.
As Scott's attorneys maintain he was unaware of the art's origin, Mehala is determined to take the rapper to court, suing him for hundreds of thousands of dollars and sole ownership of his centaur art, per TMZ. An attorney for Scott told the outlet, "This is clearly a frivolous and baseless filing. Anyone with access to the internet can tell you that Travis never released an album named 'La Flame.' The illustration in question was fan-made, and was uploaded to streaming services by those fans, something that any user has the option of doing." The Scott legal rep also pointed out, "Streaming services quickly removed it after they realized that certain people were trying to pass this off as a legitimate album cover."
Well, it remains to be seen whether Scott will beat this lawsuit — and manage to save his career to boot.