In his first interview following the Astroworld festival tragedy that left 10 people dead and several others injured, Travis Scott said what transpired on November 5 has left him in an “emotional rollercoaster.”
The rapper sat down with Charlamagne Tha God to discuss how he has been coping and the lawsuits that have been filed against him in the wake of the unfortunate incident. The interview was shared on YouTube on Thursday, Rap-Up reported.
“It really hurts,” the 30-year-old said about what happened. “It hurts the community, it hurts the city [Houston]. It’s just been a lot of thoughts, a lot feelings, a lot of grieving, and trying to wrap my head around it.”
Asked how he has since been coping, Travis said, “I’ve just been in a room for a while, a lot of thoughts. I’ve been doing this for such a long time and nothing like this ever happened… At the end of the day, these fans are your family, so you just feel like you lost something.”
Following the tragic incident, the rapper sparked controversy after he was spotted playing golf with Michael Jordan and Mark Wahlberg. But when the host asked him about the golf incident, Travis said he was spending “personal time” during Thanksgiving, and he was approached by a fan who asked to take a photo with him. That image was shared on social media.
Elsewhere in the interview, Travis said he was unaware of the gravity of the situation “until minutes before the press conference.” “People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that…” he added.
He also said he couldn’t hear the pleas for help while he was on the stage, but he took action anytime he saw something of that nature. “Anytime I could see anything like that, I did,” he said. “I stopped it like a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK.”
About 50,000 people attended the November 5 Astroworld music festival at NRG Park organized by Travis when the crowd surged towards the stage causing a crush that led to the deaths of several people and many injured, Face2Face Africa reported.
The rapper reportedly has a history of festivalgoers “raging” at some of his shows, and some people have suggested that behavior has led to casualties and injuries. But when Charlamagne asked him about that allegation, Travis said the raging is about “letting go and having fun, help others, love each other.”
“It’s not about harm,” he continued. “The show isn’t just rambunctious.”
And though he also said he has a responsibility to ascertain what went wrong, he denied any wrongdoing. He did not also point blame at festival organizers including Live Nation and Score More.
“I have a responsibility to figure out what happened here. I have a responsibility to figure out the solution,” he said. “At the end of the day, collectively, everyone just needs to figure out the bottom line solution.”
Travis also clarified that he was only informed to close the show through his “in-ear” after Drake exited the stage. Other than that, there was no other communication, he claimed, adding that he’ll put in the necessary effort to ensure tragedies of such nature don’t occur again.
The rapper, who said he did the best that he could during the tragedy, sent a message to the families of the victims. “I’ll say to them, I’m always here. I’m in this with you guys and I love you, and I’ll always be there to help you guys heal through this,” said Travis. “It’s not just a right now thing, it’s a forever thing,” he said. “These people that came to the show, they are my family. I’ll always have that connection to the people that listen to the music or came to my shows.”
In the wake of the tragedy, hundreds of survivors as well as families of those who lost their lives at the concert have filed lawsuits against Travis and the concert organizers.
