As audiences grieve the ten deaths and hundreds of injuries that occurred at Astroworld, many are turning towards the artist Travis Scott himself to blame for not stopping the show. Some attendees are even suing Scott and LiveNation for alleged negligence. According to a recent interview, though, the rapper claims he was unaware of the show’s danger until the first police press conference. 

Consequence reports that the interview with Charlamagne Tha God was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday morning. He first expressed his feelings since the concert: “It gets so hard because I always feel connected to my fans, and I went through something and my fans went through something and people’s parents went through something and it really hurts,” Scott said in the interview. “It really hurts the community, it hurts the city. It’s just been a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving, and just trying to wrap my head around it.”

He then described how if he had known about what was happening in the crowd, he would have stopped the show. He said he goes off “the fans’ energy as a collective,” and never saw a reason to stop, and no one on his team did either. 

“Us as artists, we trust professionals for when things happen that people can leave safely,” he continued. “And this night was just like a regular show, it felt like to me, as far as the energy. It didn’t feel like, you know… people didn’t show up there just to be harmful.”

Following the deadly incident, the artist offered to pay for the funeral services of the victims as well as mental health treatment for attendees via BetterHelp. He has also since been removed from the lineup for the Day N Vegas festival. 

Photo Credit: Mauricio Alvarado