Travis Scott fans reportedly faked over 60,000 signatures on a petition campaigning for the rapper to be allowed to perform at this year’s Coachella festival.
The petition was set up on Change.org earlier this week following an announcement in December that Scott, was reportedly set to top the bill but was allegedly removed following the crowd crush tragedy at his Astroworld event last year.
According to TMZ over 70,000 signatures had been registered in just three days.
But the number of signatures then plummeted overnight, dropping from over 70,000 to barely 5,000.
Over 60,000 signatures were removed from the petition after engineers at Change.org detected “fraudulent activity”, reports BuzzFeed with a representative adding: “Our team identified patterns of fraudulent activity and removed the corresponding signatures that were seen on this petition.”
The petition has since been removed entirely from Change.org and can no longer be accessed.
A representative has since told NME: “This petition was removed from Change.org due to violations of our Community Guidelines. The petition was found to contain fraudulent signatures, which were removed. After further investigation, our team discovered that the petition had produced several fraudulent attempts, which forced a complete removal of the petition.
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“We are deeply committed to the experience of our users, which means prioritising accuracy, and finding and eliminating fraud. We have a range of automated systems and teams dedicated to blocking and removing double or fake signatures and detect other fraudulent activity.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Scott has since clarified to NME that the rapper was not removed from the bill at Coachella and that “it was decided mutually out of respect for the situation that he does not perform this year.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that Kanye West (officially billed as Ye, his legal name), Billie Eilish and Harry Styles are now set to headline Coachella.
West’s appearance has led to some fans speculating that Scott may now make an appearance onstage with Ye.
“Coachella replaced Travis Scott with Kanye West, they don’t know Kanye West is going to bring him out on stage,” one wrote.
Another added: “Would you be surprised if Kanye West brought out Travis Scott at Coachella?”
Coachella replaced Travis Scott out with Kanye West, they don't know Kanye West is going to bring him out on stage.
— Johnny Malepa (@JohnnyMalepa) January 21, 2022
Would you be surprised if Kanye West brought out Travis Scott at Coachella⁉️🤔
— RapTV (@raptvcom) January 23, 2022
Meanwhile, Scott is potentially facing multiple lawsuits over the fatal Astroworld crowd crush last year.
Thus far, nearly 2,800 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against parties including Scott, Live Nation, Drake, NRG Energy, the Harris County Sports Authority and Scott’s two companies, Jack Enterprises and Cactus Jack.