In an hour-long interview with radio host Charlamagne tha God, Travis Scott said he didn’t know fans were being injured while he was on stage at the Astroworld festival in Houston last month.
Some 300 people were treated at the festival of 50,000 people and 13 were hospitalized. Ten people died from their injuries.
Videos from the crowd show fans screaming in unison to stop the show, but Scott said he “didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference.”
“Anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure the fans get the proper attention they need. Any time I could see anything like that, I did,” Scott said. “You have a view of like 50,000 people. You’ve got sound, lights, pyro, inner ear sound, you’ve got your mic. You’ve got music. You’ve got your bands. All type of stuff going on.”
As for “raging” and how to identify it in a crowd, Scott explained it is “an experience of having fun. Not just, or harm. It’s not about that. It’s just about letting go and having fun. Help others. You know, love each other. It’s not about harm. The energy is high.”
Lawsuits have started to pile up after the deadly crowd crush. Scott’s past incitement of concertgoers offers a history that could make it easier to pursue negligence claims related to the show.
“People didn’t show up there to be harmful,” Scott continued. “People showed up to have a good time and something unfortunate happened… and I think we just got to figure out, you know, what that was.”
When asked about if he had any prior knowledge of the poor planning and understaffing at the event, he said, “We just trust the professionals control what they can in the crowd.”
More than 300 lawsuits have been filed so far. Those who have been sued include Scott, concert promoter Live Nation and other companies connected to the event.
When asked about the blame being put on him, he said, “I understand. I am the face of the festival. People want to put it on me. But at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s more about that. It’s more about stepping up to figure out what the problem is. I can take that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.