Last night the death of a second person following the crush at Brixton Academy was confirmed, with security guard Gaby Hutchinson, 23, dying from their injuries after days spent in hospital in a critical condition.
Thursday night saw hundreds of fans descend on the iconic South London venue, in the hope of seeing Afrobeats artist Asake. What transpired was a deadly crush of people surging the locked doors of the venue, with both Gaby and Rebecca Ikumelo, a 33-year-old mother of two and autism campaigner, losing their lives. A third person, aged 21, remains in a critical condition.
But amid the outpouring of condolences on social media, including from O2 Academy Brixton and Asake himself, a sinister – predictable – narrative was quick to emerge. Outright racism directed toward Asake and his fans has deflected attention away from the tragic deaths of two people and the critical injuries of another (in total, eight people were taken to hospital) and instead turned it toward an age-old blame game.
A Nigerian national and one of the fastest-growing Afrobeat artists this year, Asake has a fanbase that consists primarily of Black listeners. Internet trolls have used this to spout racist comments about the behaviour of the fans and audience attending that evening.
We saw the same thing last year when eight people were killed at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival during another deadly crush. Back then, the racism was more covert, with social media commentators blaming the deaths on the victims' ‘mosh pit etiquette’ and the fact ‘they weren’t rock enough’.
It's depressing that some trolls seem intent on misdirecting the narrative away from the tragedy of lives lost and toward prejudiced victim blaming, but it is something that is still all too common. The racist discourse needs to end. Now should be a time for honouring the lives lost and working to prevent similar incidents in the future.