On Dec. 9, Travis Scott spoke out in his first interview since the Astroworld Festival tragedy, which killed 10 people and injured hundreds of attendees in November.<\/b>
\nCelebrity \u201cI have a responsibility to figure out what happened here… [and] to figure out the solution.\u201d Travis Scott has broken his silence. On Dec.9, Scott spoke out in his first interview since the Astroworld tragedy, which killed 10 people and injured more attendees after a crowd crush got out of hand during Scott\u2019s Nov.5 performance at the Houston festival. During a wide-ranging conversation with Charlamagne tha God, the rapper reiterated that he didn\u2019t know people had died until after his set. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t really until minutes until the press conference that I figured out what happened,\u201d he said. \u201cEven after the show, you\u2019re just kind of hearing things, but I didn\u2019t know the exact details. And even at that moment you\u2019re like, \u2018Wait, what?\u2019\u201d Scott claimed he couldn\u2019t hear screams from the audience begging him to stop the show, as seen in viral videos from the event, which made Scott receive criticism for inaction. \u201cIt\u2019s so crazy because I\u2019m that artist too,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnytime you can hear something like that, 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. I stopped a couple of times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans\u2019 energy as a collective, you know? Call and response. And I just didn\u2019t hear that. I got music, I got my in-ears, but I just didn\u2019t hear that.\u201d One video from the concert shows that Scott did pause when he noticed a fan in distress to make sure medical units could get to them. He told Charlamagne that he noticed the ambulance, but when he double-checked with the fans, \u201cI got a response everyone was OK.\u201d The 30-year-old entertainer went on to give his timeline of events, stating he wasn\u2019t given a reason why the show went on for 40 minutes after Houston police declared it a \u201cmass casualty event\u201d and that he was instructed to end the show after Drake made his guest appearance. \u201cThey just told me right after the guests can get off stage, we\u2019re going to end the show and that\u2019s what we did,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there wasn\u2019t communication on why.\u201d Scott has denied all legal liability for the incident in 140 lawsuits filed against him and festival promoter Live Nation. He did offer to pay for funeral costs of the victims, but some of the victims\u2019 families have declined his offer. Moving forward, Scott said he was committed to doing whatever he can to figure out solutions for concertgoers to have fun safely. \u201cFans come to have a good experience,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I have a responsibility to figure out what happened here. I have a responsibility to figure out the solution. And hopefully this takes a first step into us as artists having more insight to what\u2019s going on, and the professionals to figure out more of the intel, whether it\u2019s tech, whether it\u2019s more of a response, whatever the problem is, to figure out that. And in the future, move forward in concert safety to make sure this never happens again.\u201d Scott said he doesn\u2019t plan to change anything about his performance style when he starts playing shows again. Charlamagne pressed Scott on the \u201craging\u201d and moshpit culture of his shows, something Scott has been arrested for on multiple occasions. \u201c\u2018Raging\u2019\u2026 there\u2019s not a textbook definition,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about just harm… it\u2019s about letting go and having fun, help others and love each other.\u201d Instead, he\u2019s focusing on improving safety precautions before the show. \u201cI\u2019ll do the same thing I\u2019ve been doing,\u201d he said. \u201cDouble down on making sure that everybody is locked in, everyone is aware, everyone is on response, everybody is on it… try to have some sort of call and response with the fans while still being smooth in your performance, because at the end of the day, it\u2019s still performance art.\u201d<\/p>\n