The normalization of deaths in festivals has lead to victim blaming and dismissing the pain of friends and family.
With almost no media reporting on the alleged multiple deaths, alleged beatings of women, and overall chaos and negligence at the Okeechobee Music and Arts Festival, I had to dive a little deeper into what festivalgoers were saying on social media. The verdict: there's lots of confusion, conflicting statements, and suspicious silence from the media. The festival, which happened from March 2nd to March 5th in Okeechobee, Florida, had a diverse lineup that spanned rock, techno, house, reggae, and hip-hop, among other genres. Since its inception in 2016, the event's motto has been "Be, Here, Now. "According to their website, the OMF "is built upon some of the most important pillars of human existence — community, creativity, spirituality, love, and respect…." At first glance, it would seem that this was a true reflection of the atmosphere at the festival earlier this month. However, starting March 5th, dozens of Reddit and Twitter accounts began asking Okeechobee fest for answers regarding the death by drowning of one of the festival goers. Not much later, other accounts started reporting on beatings, other deaths, staff negligence, and complaining about the lack of security and medical services on site.
The confusion around the situation grew when one of the Festival headliners, Electronic music DJ Griz, posted a now-deleted video where he called for harm reduction at the festival, increased security, and mentioned multiple deaths that should be acknowledged. He later deleted the video, as multiple deaths had not been confirmed, and his statement created further discord among fans and attendees. At this point, several online accounts were pointing to at least five deaths, and people were desperately asking the festival and the police for answers, many wondering if the silence from authorities was purposely protecting the festival organizers from a millionaire lawsuit and using the 2021 Astroworld fatal crowd crush as a point of reference. After days of commotion, on March 8th, the festival finally acknowledged one confirmed death of festival goer Stevie Nguyen via instagram post, ignoring all other allegations and shutting down the rumors. But in a sea of unconfirmed accounts and internet conspiracies, what facts have come out of this event?
One of the most called-out issues with the festival was that there was only one medical tent for the entire campgrounds, which for a festival this size, the amount of illegal drugs that are consumed and the potential for health and security incidents shows the negligence and carelessness of the organizers. Another critical thing to consider is that it is not uncommon for OD deaths to happen during these kinds of events; many times, they go unreported or are not even counted towards an official death count, which for many festival goers, is what happened at OMF. The normalization of heavy drug use and OD-related deaths also leads to victim blaming and dismissing the pain of friends and family who keep asking for answers. In a widely shared tweet, a festival employee defended the festival and organizers, calling Nguyen's dead "preventable." and saying that Nguyen "was not a victim of a crime for accidentally dying…" and insensitively added that "at the very least, they passed in a place where they likely experienced great joy." This tweet was representative of the overall position the festival, authorities, and organizers took when dealing with the backlash and accusations.
Beyond the lack of reporting around the festival and with only a few local news outlets reporting on the situation, most of the conversations and official communications about it were happening on Reddit and Twitter. Not surprisingly, only two days after the official OMF Instagram post, the number of posts discussing the alleged deaths and security incidents were buried under positive posts about the festival, with even Griz, the DJ who posted the incendiary video, talking about his favorite moments of the weekend. And just like that, those who can move on went about their business. We might never get answers about what really happened at the festival. Still, hopefully, as more of these events are called out for their lack of organization and negligent security practices, they become safer spaces for those who attend.
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