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Travis Scott finally decided to break his silence on the Astroworld tragedy nearly a month after the mass incident left 10 people dead and hundreds injured. On Thursday, December 9, 2021, the rapper appeared on The Breakfast Club and spoke to Charlamagne tha God about his tragic concert.
While Scott spoke about the tragedy and the following events in depth, a large part of the populace is still angry about the entire situation and how it was handled. As expected fans lashed out on social media as well.
Travis Scott goes speaks with Charlamagne tha God about being unaware of the incident, well-being of fans is the highest priority
Towards the beginning of the interview, the musician mentioned that he felt a “rollercoaster of emotions” after the tragedy and was extremely hurt by the situation:
"I’ve been on different types of emotions, an emotional rollercoaster, I mean. 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. 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."
However, the Sicko Mode hitmaker claimed he was unaware of the injuries and fatalities at the venue before the press conference:
“I didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference [after my set],” he said. “And even at that moment you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’ People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that… It’s so crazy because I’m that artist too — anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show,” he said. “You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need.”
The rapper also mentioned that the loud music, band, lights and other show elements made it difficult for him to understand the severity of the situation from the stage. He also stated that he attempted to stop the show a few times to check on the attendees:
“I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans’ energy as a collective — call and response. I just didn’t hear that. You can only help what you can see and whatever you’re told, whenever they tell you to stop, you stop.”
Travis Scott faced huge criticism following the Astroworld tragedy and the crowdsurge incident. Several people slammed the singer for promoting “raging” culture in his concerts.
During the interview, he also addressed the concept of “raging” and mentioned that it was never meant to be harmful for the attendees:
“‘Raging’…there’s not a textbook definition. But in concerts we’ve grown it to be just the experience of fun. It’s not about just…harm. It’s not about that. It’s about letting go and having fun, help others and love each other.”
Following the Astroworld tragedy, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Travis Scott, Live Nation and other organizers associated with the concert. However, the music artist recently requested the court to “dismiss the lawsuits with prejudice.”
Twitter reacts to Travis Scott’s statement on the Astroworld tragedy
On November 5, 2021, the Travis Scott-led Astroworld Festival transformed into a scene of mass tragedy as a crowdsurge incident inside the concert venue left 300 people injured and 10 individuals dead.
Following the tragedy, the rapper issued an official statement mentioning the incident left him “absolutely devastated.” He also offered his condolences to the victims and families affected by the situation.
The Grammy Award winner came under fire for continuing his performance amid the ongoing chaos at the venue and is currently facing multiple lawsuits regarding the incident.
In the wake of the tragedy, the rapper decided to address the incident in a one-on-conversation with Charlamagne tha God. However, fans were far from impressed with the interview and continued to express their disappointment with the singer on Twitter:
As reactions continue to pour in online, Travis Scott has already told Charlamagne tha God that he aims to use the interview as a means of communication with fans in light of the critical situation:
"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? 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. It's been such a time and I’ve been trying to just really figure things out."
The Scotts singer also said that he met some of the families affected by the Astroworld tragedy and pledged that he will fix the problem so that such situations can be completely avoided in the future.
