Travis Scott addresses Astroworld Festival in first interview since tragedy
9 December 2021, 13:27 | Updated: 9 December 2021, 14:51
A Conversation with Travis Scott and Charlamagne Tha God
The rapper has spoken on the Astroworld Festival tragedy for the first time since the event – which left ten people dead and hundreds injured.
Travis Scott has opened up about the Astroworld Festival tragedy for the first time in a new interview with Charlamagne Tha God.
Travis Scott requests to dismiss Astroworld lawsuit following disaster
The 30-year-old artist sat down with the popular media personality for a 51-minute discussion. The 'Sicko Mode' rapper —who is currently facing multiple lawsuits in connection to the disastrous event—said he’s been on an “emotional rollercoaster” since it happened.
Travis Scott on how he's coping since the tragedy
“I’ve been on different types of emotions, an emotional rollercoaster, I mean,” he said. “It gets so hard because, you know, I always feel connected with my fans. I went through something and I feel like fans went through something and people’s parents went through something.
He continued: "And it really hurts. It hurts the community, it hurts the city. There’s been a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving, and just trying to wrap my head around it.”
When asked about how he has been coping since the tragedy, Travis Scott replied: "I've been just been in a room, for a while, a lot of thoughts, luckily you have people around, you can bounce around ideas, but I've been doing this for such a long time, nothing like this ever happened".
Travis Scott makes statement after tragic deaths at Astroworld Festival
Travis Scott on why he chose to do the interview
Charlamagne went on to ask Scott what his "intention” for the interview is, which comes a month after multiple fans died on the first day of the Houston-set festival.
“I don’t personally have an intention, I just feel like something happened and I feel like it’s just, I needed a way to kinda like communicate, you know?” Scott said.
He continued: “One, families are grieving. There’s fans that experienced something, there’s fans that came to the show. I’ve always been that person to always see things through with the people that share experiences with me. … I’ve been trying to just really figure things out.”
Travis Scott on when he found out about the tragedies
Charlamagne asks Travis when he found out that things got as bad as they did, and Travis responded: "Yeah, it wasn't really until minutes until the press conference until I figured out what really happened. Even after the show, you just kinda hearing things, which I didn't know the exact details until minutes before the press conference."
"And even at that moment, you're like what?" then Charlagmane interjects asking if he didn't know that people had passed, to which Travis replies: "Nah nah, until minutes before [the press conference]. The thing is, people pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that..."
When asked if he heard any screams of people asking him to stop the show, Travis said: "Nah man, you know, it's so crazy 'cos I'm that artist too. Any time you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure your fans get the proper attention they need".
Travis Scott said he felt like he did everything he could to help in the situation. "If knowing what's going on, you would just wish, if you could've done something better. But, standing there, 1000%".
Travis Scott on the lawsuits and where responsibility lies
When asked deeper into the interview whether he felt a sense of responsibility for the tragedy, Scott said his responsibility lies in figuring out what went wrong at this year’s Astroworld and how to prevent these types of incidents at future shows. He claims artists handle the creative parts of the show, but puts trusts in professionals to handle the crowd and other factors.
Travis Scott on the victims and their families
Chalamagne asks Travis if he could live with himself if the families of the victims never forgave him, and the rapper responds: "Nah, it's tough. It's real tough. I want them to really know that my intentions wasn't to harm their family at all, it's to come and have a good experience.
I would love for them to truly know where my heart is from.
Later on in the interview, Travis says: "I want everyone to continue praying for the fans. I want everyone to continue oraying for the fans, the one's that were lost. I want people to continue praying for the families. I want people to continued reaching out for healing. I want people to just be continuing being there for each other"
