Travis Scott Speaks Out in 1st Interview About Astroworld Tragedy

Travis Scott has given his first extensive sit-down interview since the November 5 Astroworld Festival tragedy that resulted in hundreds of injuries and 10 fatalities.

In the interview, premiering Thursday on YouTube, the “Sicko Mode” rapper sat down with Charlamagne Tha God and maintained that he did not know fans were getting trampled when concertgoers in the crowd of approximately 50,000 people began surging toward the stage.

“I didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference [after the concert],” Scott said. “And even at that moment, you’re kind of like, ‘Wait, what?'”

“People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that…” the musician added.

Scott also contends that he did not hear people shout “help” during his performance.

“Any time you can hear something like that, too, you want to stop the show, you want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need, and anytime I could see anything like that, I did,” Scott said. “I stopped a couple times to make sure everybody was okay. And I really just go off of the fans’ energy as a collective call-and-response… I just didn’t hear that.”

The MC cited the large crowd and the show’s lights, pyrotechnics, and music as factors that prevented him from seeing what was exactly happening in the audience.

“You can only help what you see and whatever you’re told,” Scott said.

Scott also claims he was never given a “hard stop” to halt the show amid the chaos.

“If it’s something detrimental, someone’s going to let you know or the show’s just going to stop and that just wasn’t the case,” he said. “You have a call-and-response to the fans. You try to generally get a response. But if you don’t get a hard stop, you just go off of what’s going on.”

As to what he would tell the families who lost loved ones at the concert, Scott said, “I’d say to them that I’m always here, and that I’m in this with you guys and I love you and I’ll always be there to help you heal through this.”

“I understand what they’re going through. They’re grieving right now. And it’s not just a right now thing. It’s a forever thing,” he continued. “And these people that came to the show, they are my family and I’ve always had that connection to the people.”

With regard to future shows, Scott hopes that concert organizers can put measures in place to ensure that this tragedy never happens again.

“I want to see people really figure this out, not take this lightly and really act on it,” Scott said. “They’ve got to act on it and it can’t just be like something that happens and they just roll over. It’s got to be something that’s taken serious and address seriously.”

Since the event, over 100 lawsuits have been filed against Scott and concert organizers, with many alleging negligence.

As reported by CNN this week, Scott’s attorneys have filed responses to six lawsuits, all denying the rapper’s legal liability in the incident.

"Defendants generally deny the allegations set forth," stated the court documents, which requested that the claims be dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be brought to court again.