The family of the youngest Astroworld Festival victim has some thoughts about Kanye West’s demand for Billie Eilish to apologize after reports came out that she seemingly shaded Travis Scott over the deadly crowd surge at his concert in November.
In an interview with Rolling Stone on Thursday, the grandparents of 9-year-old Ezra Blount spoke out against the 44-year-old rapper’s recent social media post, calling the whole situation not only “idiotic” but “hurtful” as well. Bernon Blount told the outlet:
“To hear Kanye’s words, that’s hurtful to us. What an idiotic thing to say.”
Ezra’s grandmother Tericia Blount then added:
“I think it’s just crazy, and I hate to use that word, but I think it’s ridiculous. 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.”
As we previously reported, Eilish stopped in the middle of her performance at State Farm Arena in Atlanta last week after realizing that a concertgoer was struggling to breathe in the crowd. After quickly providing the fan with an inhaler, the 20-year-old singer told the audience:
“I wait for the people to be OK until I keep going.”
Many people interpreted her comment as a criticism of Scott, who continued to perform at his Astroworld concert last year while festivalgoers were crushed in the crowd. The stampede killed 10 individuals – including Ezra, who fell from his father’s shoulders during the surge, ended up in a coma, and later died in the hospital.
Kanye, of course, did not appreciate Eilish’s diss towards Scott and called her out on Instagram, even threatening to pull out of his Coachella performance later this spring unless she apologized. He wrote:
“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 TRAV DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN HE WAS ON STAGE AND WAS VERY HURT BY WHAT HAPPENED AND YES TRAV WILL BE WITH ME AT COACHELLA BUT NOW I NEED BILLIE TO APOLOGIZE BEFORE I PERFORM”
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The Goosebumps rapper liked the post, leading many to slam him on social media for his “lack of empathy” and “remorse” over the tragedy. And soon after, the NDA performer commented on the post to let Ye know that she “never said a thing” about Scott.
In the interview with Rolling Stone, Terecia commended the Eilish for looking out for her fans, saying:
“I totally commend Billie Eilish for having that decency about her. I think what she did was wonderful, and I would love to tell her myself how brilliant and awesome she is for doing so.”
Bernon then said:
“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.”
Ultimately, the grandparents find that it “doesn’t make sense” for Ye to “vilify” Eilish over the situation. Bernon expressed:
“If he doesn’t want to perform at Coachella, fine. But for the rest of us, we need to start looking out for each other in a more sincere way and not let profits drive our motives. Our family is struggling because the loss of Ezra has affected all of us, mentally, physically, spiritually. We’re still trying to pick up the pieces. Kanye news to have more empathy in him, because if it was his children, he would be losing his mind.”
Wow. What are your reactions to the Blount family’s call out? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via WENN, WENN/Avalon]
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