Travis Scott says ‘the media wants to put it on me’ in first interview since Astroworld tragedy

Rapper said he did not know people had died until after the concert

Travis Scott has given his first interview since the tragedy at his Astroworld concert that resulted in the deaths of 10 people.

A nine-year-old boy, Ezra Blount, was among the dead. Hundreds more were injured during the rapper’s performance at the Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas, on 5 November, when the crowd surged towards the stage.

At approximately 9.15pm, the crowd surge caused people to be crushed and trampled on.

Scott and the organisers of the Houston festival are facing multiple lawsuits over the tragedy.

In a new 50-minute interview with presenter Charlamagne Tha God, which was posted on YouTube on Thursday (9 December), Scott said: “I’m the face of the festival, I’m the artist, so the media wants to put it on me, but at the end of the day I don’t think it’s more so about that, it’s more so about stepping up to figure out what the problem is.”

He also reiterated his claim that he did not know anyone died until after his performance.

“I’ve been on different types of emotions, an emotional rollercoaster,” Scott said. “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.

“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.”

Travis Scott gives first interview since Astroworld tragedy (CThaGod YouTube)

The artist said he decided to sit down for an interview because he “needed a way to communicate”.

Charlamagne asked Scott when he first realised people were killed at the Astroworld festival. “It wasn’t really until minutes until the press conference [after the show] that I figured out what happened,” he said.

“Even after the show, you’re just kind of hearing things, but I didn’t know the exact details. And even at that moment you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’ You just went through something.”

He added: “People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that…”

The rapper said he did not hear fans screaming between songs for him to stop the event. “It’s so crazy because I’m that artist, too – anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show, you want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need.”

A memorial to those who died at the Astroworld festival is displayed outside of NRG Park (Getty Images)

He claimed that he had stopped the show “a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK”.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a spokesperson for Scott, previously said he did not have the ability to stop the fatal Texas show.

“I mean this notion that Travis had the ability to stop the concert is ludicrous,” she said.

“They have a 59-page operations plan, and it clearly says the only two people that have the authority to stop the concert were the executive producer and the concert producer.”

Rawlings-Blake added: “He was not responsible for this, but he wants to be responsible for the solution.”

Scott has offered a full refund of all Astroworld 2021 tickets.

Half of the victims’ families have rejected the rapper’s offer to pay for the funerals of the people who died.