Travis Scott is finally sharing his thoughts on the unfortunate incident at his Astroworld Music Festival that left ten people dead. In his first interview since the tragedy, Scott reiterated to Charlamagne Tha God that he wasn’t aware of the severity of the situation until after the police press conferences.
“It wasn’t really until minutes until the press conference [after the show] that I figured out what happened. Even after the show, you’re just kind of hearing things, but I didn’t know the exact details” Scott said. “And even at that moment you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’ You just went through something.”
Scott added, “People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that…”
The Houston native maintains he would have alerted the right response unit to the chaos if he knew what was going on.
“It’s so crazy because I’m that artist, too — anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show, you want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need,” Scott continued. “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.”
During the interview Scott was asked about “raging” culture at his shows and if it contributed to the events at NRG park on November 5.
“Nah, it’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. “As artists we trust professionals to make sure that if things happen, 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. 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.”
“‘Raging’…there’s not a textbook definition,” he continued. “But in concerts we’ve grown it to be just the experience of fun. It’s not about just…harm. It’s not about that. It’s about letting go and having fun, help others and love each other.”
When asked if he feels any responsibility over the festival tragedy, Scott admitted he does.
He revealed he was able to speak with some of the families who lost loves ones at the concert and was “thankful” to even have those conversations.
He offered a message to the families of victims saying: “I’m always here. I’m in this with you guys and I love you. I’ll always be there to help you guys heal through this.
“It’s not just a right now thing, it’s a forever thing. These people who came to the show, they are my family. I’ve always had that connection to people who listened to the music or came to my shows. And that’s why it’s really hard on me,” he continued.
“I just want to always be there for them,” he said, promising to be “a number one voice” for concert safety moving forward.
Over 300 lawsuits have been filed following the tragedy.
Scott denied allegations laid out in several lawsuits against him and requested they be dismissed in documents filed Monday.
Watch the full interview below.