Astroworld rap festival – organized by rapper Travis Scott – was the scene of a major tragedy. A mass stampede in the audience caused several people to be trampled, resulting in the deaths of 10 victims (as officially confirmed).
Artists like Corey Taylor offered their condolences to the victims' families , but Ace Frehley KISS guitarist expressed his feelings for the loss of his friends and family, but also reinforced a conspiracy theory circulating online that the tragedy occurred due to a "satanic ritual gone wrong."
Conspiracy theories have gone viral on TikTok and the QAnon , pointing to alleged evidence of the so-called "ritual," such as the shape of the festival stage, which resembled an inverted crucifix, and the design on Travis Scott's t-shirt, which featured horned figures. On his Facebook page, Ace Frehley posted a photo wearing a sock with the words "Not today, Satan" stitched on it and wrote:
“I’m on tour with my daughter Monique and my girlfriend Lara . Regarding what happened in Houston, we are praying for the families who lost their loved ones at the festival. It seems like it was a satanic ritual gone wrong! They will pay dearly for this!!! For all those who let those children die! All people of faith and religion should unite to prevent something like this from happening again in the United States. God bless!”
The completely unfounded theory about alleged satanic rituals is part of a QAnon community that falsely claims a network of celebrities and politicians is involved in a child sex trafficking scheme and that they feed on the blood of children in satanic rituals. This theory has no plausible basis or evidence.