Travis Scott Denies Legal Liability in First Interview After Astroworld Tragedy
Travis Scott is speaking out for the first time publicly about the Astroworld concert tragedy that left 10 people dead and countless injured. The rapper denied knowing anything about the chaos that was going on in the crowd amid multiple lawsuits filed against him in an hour-long discussion with Charlamagne tha God on Dec. 9.
"I didn't know the exact details until minutes before the press conference," he said of the fatal crowd surge. "And even at that moment you're like, 'Wait, what?' ...People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that..." he continued before trailing off. Scott also denied hearing anything from the crowd to cause him to stop the performance, saying he "just didn't hear" any distress from the audience when he did check in.
"You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need," he said. Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans' energy as a collective – call and response. I just didn't hear that." From the music and lights to the pyrotechnic elements of the show, Scott said it was tough to see anything out of the norm.
"You can only help what you can see and whatever you're told, whenever they tell you to stop, you stop," he said. Asked about the "raging" culture surrounding his shows, Scott said he's been trying to balance what the fans want with safety. "That's something I've been working on for a while, is creating these experiences and trying to show these experiences are happening in a safe environment," he said. "Us as artists, we trust professionals for when things happen that people can leave safely. And this night was just like a regular show, it felt like to me, as far as the energy."
"It didn't feel like, you know...people didn't show up there just to be harmful," he continued. "People just showed up to have a good time and then something unfortunate happened and I think we really just got to figure out what that was." Scott added that there's "not a textbook definition" of raging, but that his concerts are supposed to be about "fun," not "harm." He noted, "It's about letting go and having fun, help others and love each other."