Travis Scott Breaks Silence in First Interview Since Astroworld

Travis Scott has sit down for his first interview following the mass casualty event that took 10 lives at his Astroworld Festival last month.

On Thursday morning (Dec. 9), an interview with television and radio personality Charlamagne Tha God surfaced online via YouTube, in which La Flame is speaking out on the tragic incident that has led to billions of dollars in lawsuits, which the rapper has recently filed documents to have dismissed.

Travis, who starts of the conversation expressing that he has been on “an emotional roller coaster” since the calamity occurred at NRG Stadium in his hometown on Nov. 5, said that he wishes he could heal all of those impacted by the tragedy.

While La Flame didn’t have a particular goal with the interview with CThaGod, the platinum-selling artist acknowledged that a horrific situation happened and he needed an avenue to express himself on what had transpired.

When asked when he found out when everything actually happened, Travis Scott explained, “It wasn’t really until…minutes until the press conference that he figured out exactly what happened.” Scott is presumably referring to the conference put on by Fire Chief Samuel Peña, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Police Chief Troy Finner on Sat., Nov. 6, the day after his annual event. The public statement, filmed by KHOU 11 News Houston, announced that at that time, they were eight deceased victims and the exact moments when things took a tragic turn.

“Even after the show, you’re just kind of hearing things,” he continued. “But I didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference. And even at that moment, you’re kinda like, what? You just went through something.”

Travis Scott said he didn’t know people had lost their lives until minutes ahead of the press conference.

“The thing is, people pass out,” Travis said. “Things happen at concerts, but something like that…”

He also said that he didn’t hear fans cries for help while on stage.

“It’s so crazy ’cause I’m that artist, too,” Travis told Charlamagne. “Anytime you can hear something like that, you wanna stop the show. You wanna make sure the fans get the proper attention they need. And anytime I could see something like that, I did. I stopped a couple times just to make sure everybody was OK.”

He went on to say, “You have a venue filled with 50,000 people. But it’s like a sea, you have lights, you have sound, you got pyros, you got your in-ears, you got sound, you got your mics, got the music, [you] got bands. All types of stuff going on.”

Travis expressed that as an artist performing on stage, “you can only help what you can see and then whatever you’re told. Whenever somebody tells you to stop, you just stop.”

Travis Scott also denied that the raging element at his prior concerts attributed to the energy at his 2021 Astroworld Festival.

“Yeah, nah,” he replied. “I think it’s something I’ve been working on for a while of just creating these experiences. And trying to show the experiences happening in a safe environment. As artists, we trust professionals to make sure that things happen and people leave safely.”

Travis also likened raging to “having fun” and denounced that it’s connected to being harmful.

The rapper was also asked about how much responsibility he feels he has for what happened at his concert. To this, his response was, “Fans come to the show and have a good experience. And I have a responsibility to figure out what happened here. I have a responsibility to figure out a solution and hopefully this takes a first step into us as artists having that insight of what’s going on. And the professionals to kind of surround and figure out more intel—whether it’s tech, whether it’s more of a response, whatever the problem is, to figure out that. [And] in the future, move forward in concert safety and make sure it never happens again.”

As far as Travis being told to end the show while on stage by the event’s organizers—Live Nation and Scormore—he said he was advised that when the guest, presumably Drake, gets off stage from performing, to conclude the show.

La Flame addressed performing in the future as well and if this event has deterred him from doing so.

“I’ve always seen performances as a part of healing, for me,” he shared. “That’s why I’ve also been so into it. I don’t know if you looked at the growth from where I’ve tried to take performances. I feel like it’s an art of healing. I feel like it’s a moment where people have a mutual understanding. And I feel like the first thing’s first, before anything, is that we address a lot of safety concerns.”

Travis added, “Because not even for me. You don’t want other artists to go and have to take a part of that trauma, take a part of that experience, take a part of that fear. You don’t want concertgoers to be a part of that fear. You want them to feel safe…And once we take major steps to moving in that direction, I feel like it’ll be cool for people to practice that healing again.”

When the question arose of who Travis Scott thinks is responsible for the tragedy, he said, “Something happened here and what I’m trying to get to the bottom of is what happened here? How it happened here. And I think the families are owed that, I feel like the communities are owed that, I feel like we’re owed that to just know what happened here. And I don’t wanna speak too soon. I just wanna figure out what happened, but we…like I said, as artists, we just leave this up to professionals to make sure that fans are having a good time, people are protected and can leave and have the best experience ever.

The full interview can be seen below.

This article is being updated.

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