After hiring Donald Trump's lawyer to defend him against the pile of lawsuits following the deadly crowd surge at the November 5 Astroworld Festival in Houston, TX, Travis Scott has given his first interview since the mass casualty event that killed 10 and injured dozens more.
The rapper sat down with TV and radio personality Charlamagne tha God for a candid conversation about the incident in a 50-minute video posted to the host's YouTube channel. Scott described the "emotional rollercoaster" he's been on following the tragedy.
"It gets so hard because, you know, I always feel connected with my fans," the artist said. "I went through something and I feel like fans went through something and people's parents went through something — 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."
Scott claimed that he didn't find out about the concert's casualties until just prior to the press conference following the event. "Even after the show, you know, you're just kind of hearing things — which I didn't know the exact details until, you know, minutes before the press conference," Scott explained. "And even at that moment you're kind of just like, 'Wait, what?'"
When asked about whether he felt he had a responsibility for what unfolded, the rapper continued:
Fans come to the show to 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 more insight into what's going on, and for the professionals to surround and figure out more intel — whether it's tech, whether it's more of a response, whatever the problem is — and in the future, move forward in concert safety and make sure it never happens again.
As for the responsibility of Live Nation Entertainment and promoter Scoremore, Scott added: "They do their job of setting these things up. When we dial into what specifically happened here, I think they can kind of help figure out what happened here — but at the end of the day, I think collectively, everyone needs to figure out the bottom-line solution."
"You know, no matter what you do at any of your shows in the future; regardless of how much security, how much safety you put in place, you cannot control human behaviour," Charlamagne that God reminded the artist. "Does that scare you?"
"I mean, yeah, but you also put trust in the fans too — to have a good time," Scott answered. "You re-instil that. Just constantly have messages to remind them: like, 'Yo, look, you're here to have a good time. If you see somebody, help another.'"
Watch the full conversation below.
Recently, Public Enemy's Chuck D shared an open letter defending Scott.
The rapper sat down with TV and radio personality Charlamagne tha God for a candid conversation about the incident in a 50-minute video posted to the host's YouTube channel. Scott described the "emotional rollercoaster" he's been on following the tragedy.
"It gets so hard because, you know, I always feel connected with my fans," the artist said. "I went through something and I feel like fans went through something and people's parents went through something — 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."
Scott claimed that he didn't find out about the concert's casualties until just prior to the press conference following the event. "Even after the show, you know, you're just kind of hearing things — which I didn't know the exact details until, you know, minutes before the press conference," Scott explained. "And even at that moment you're kind of just like, 'Wait, what?'"
When asked about whether he felt he had a responsibility for what unfolded, the rapper continued:
Fans come to the show to 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 more insight into what's going on, and for the professionals to surround and figure out more intel — whether it's tech, whether it's more of a response, whatever the problem is — and in the future, move forward in concert safety and make sure it never happens again.
As for the responsibility of Live Nation Entertainment and promoter Scoremore, Scott added: "They do their job of setting these things up. When we dial into what specifically happened here, I think they can kind of help figure out what happened here — but at the end of the day, I think collectively, everyone needs to figure out the bottom-line solution."
"You know, no matter what you do at any of your shows in the future; regardless of how much security, how much safety you put in place, you cannot control human behaviour," Charlamagne that God reminded the artist. "Does that scare you?"
"I mean, yeah, but you also put trust in the fans too — to have a good time," Scott answered. "You re-instil that. Just constantly have messages to remind them: like, 'Yo, look, you're here to have a good time. If you see somebody, help another.'"
Watch the full conversation below.
Recently, Public Enemy's Chuck D shared an open letter defending Scott.