Travis Scott Avoided Taking Any Responsibility For The Astroworld Tragedy In His First Interview
"You know, I'm the face of the festival, I'm an artist, so yeah, the media is… they wanna put it on me."
Just over a month after the fatal crowd crush that occurred at Astroworld Festival, Travis Scott has finally given his first interview about the tragedy.
On November 5, Scott’s Astroworld Festival that was held in Houston, Texas left 10 people dead and over 300 injured. After the event, people shared their festival experiences online, and harrowing footage dominated social media for weeks.
But beyond a questionable black-and-white apology video uploaded via Instagram Story from Scott, the rapper stayed off social media as the conversation around the tragedy took over.
That is, until today, as the rapper sat down with radio personality Charlamagne The God for ‘A Conversation with Travis Scott and Charlamagne The God’, a 51-minute “open conversation” about Astroworld, the events that unfolded and the impact the tragedy has had on the world.
So, here’s everything we learned during Travis Scott’s first interview post-Astroworld:
Travis Scott Believes “The Professionals” Are Responsible
Kicking the interview off, Travis Scott shared that he’s been on an “emotional rollercoaster” because of fateful events that occurred at Astroworld.
“I went through something, fans went through something, people’s parents went through something,” Scott told Charlamagne. “It really hurts, it hurts a community, it hurts a city. It’s just been a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving, you know just trying to wrap my head around it.”
But despite understanding how much people, families and the community were hurt by the festival — which is evident in the rapper being named in over 200 Astroworld lawsuits — Scott avoided taking blame for the safety issues that occurred.
Instead of taking responsibility for his role in the alleged poor planning and understaffing of the festival, Scott blamed the “professionals” for it and said he was merely responsible for the “creative” side of things.
“As an artist, you just do the creative. And this to be my festival, I got to bring artists, creatively produce it. We just trust the professionals to make sure that people are taken care of and leaving safely,” Scott explained.
“I just can control what I can on the stage, and you have the professionals control what they can in the crowd.”
“As an artist it’s hard because you want to have the best shows and you want to have the best experiences, you link with professionals to handle that side of it.”
He Wants To Avoid Similar Situations In Future
However, Scott did add that he has a “responsibility to figure out what happened here… to figure out a solution” so that issues like this don’t occur in the future.
“I’m gonna fix this for the future people and fix this problem, and find a solution and make sure this doesn’t happen in the future and be a number one voice for this. I feel like that’s what we got figure out,” said Scott, suggesting solutions like wristbands to monitor attendee health and their location could help.
“I’m the face of the festival, I’m an artist, so yeah, the media is…they wanna put it on me,” he continued. “But at the end of the day… it’s more so about stepping out to figure out what the problem is.”
The Rapper Refuses To Take Any Blame For The Crowd Crush
Unfortunately when Charlamagne pressed Scott again for an answer over who is ultimately responsible for the events that occurred at Astroworld, the rapper continued to avoid admitting any fault.
“Something tragic happened here. What I’ve just been trying to get to the bottom of is what happened here and how it happened,” he said, running around the question at hand. “I think the families are owed that. I think the community is owed that to know what happened here. I don’t want to speak too soon, I just want to figure out what happened.”
“As artists, we just leave this to, you know, the professionals to make sure that fans are having a good time, that people are protected, leave and have the best experience ever.”
He Denied Knowing Fans Were In Danger And Shut Down “Satanic” Sacrifice Theories
Travis Scott took the opportunity to clear up the rumours that claimed he knew about the deaths that were occurring in the pit as he was performing.
Sharing that he had only heard of the event turning deadly just before the press conference had started, Scott denied hearing screams for help while on stage as the music, his in-ears and the stage lights made it hard for him to see and hear what was happening in the “sea” of festival-goers.
“Everything just kind of sounds the same,” Scott said about being unable to tell the difference between the screams of “excitement” and “danger” on stage. “At the end of the day you just hear music. You can only help what you can see.”
“Even after the show, you’re just kinda hearing things, but I didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference,” he continued. “And even at that moment, you’re just like, ‘Wait, what?’”
“You know, people pass out — things happen at concerts, but something like that?”
The rapper also denied the theories that the deaths at Astroworld were planned and part of a “satanic” or “demonic” ritual.
“I’m a man of God. That’s that,” said Scott. “Theres always gonna be an outside opinion but the ones that really believe in me and understand what I’m about and what I’m doing will know (evil) is not what I’m preaching.”
“I’m always preaching love and understanding. I’ll always preach about taking care of your loved ones.”
Travis Scott Wants Families That Lost Loved Ones To Know He Will Always Support Them
Throughout the interview, Travis Scott reiterated that he would “always be there” for the families who lost their loved ones at Astroworld and shared that he understands why some have rejected his offers to help financially and why some might not forgive him.
“[The families are] grieving and trying to find understanding. They want answers,” the rapper said. “I’m always going to be here to want to help them and I have to continue to make sure that they understand that. I just want to make sure that they knew I was there and continue to be there for them.”
“I want them to really know that my intentions wasn’t to harm their family at all, it was for them to have a good experience,” he continued. “I would love for them to truly know where my heart is from.”
“[Astroworld] was for them to have a good time and it’s just tragic that it didn’t turn out that way.”
You can watch the full interview below: