In his first extensive sit-down interview since the Astroworld tragedy, American rapper Travis Scott has said that he wasn’t aware of the events that were unfolding while he was on stage on the night of November 5 and didn’t learn the scale of the deaths and injuries until after the show.

During the 50-minute talk with Charlamagne tha God, which dropped on the Breakfast Club host’s YouTube channel Thursday, Charlamagne asked Scott what he knew and when about the crowd crush at the Houston concert that ultimately left 10 people dead and many more injured. Scott said, “I didn’t know the exact details until minutes before the press conference [after the concert]. And even at that moment, you’re kind of like, ‘Wait, what?'”

When Charlamagne asked if he heard people shouting “help” whenever he stopped performing, Scott said he didn’t hear any of those screams. He explained the large crowd, lights, pyrotechnics, the music and his band made it hard for him to see exactly what was happening in the audience. He also indicated that he didn’t hear anything earlier that would’ve made him stop the show immediately.

“If it’s something detrimental, someone’s going to let you know or the show’s just going to stop and that just wasn’t the case,” Scott said. “You have a call and response to the fans. You try to generally get a response. but if you don’t get a hard stop, you just go off of what’s going on.”

In terms of any communication Scott received from security about what was happening in the crowd during his set, he said that he was simply told that, as Scott put it, “once the guests get off the stage, we’re going to end the show and that’s what they did. Other than that, there was no other communication. There was no communication on why. That’s what came through my ears.”

As to whether Scott knew of any crowd injuries before performing, he said he didn’t and that a police officer came to his trailer and congratulated him on the event and having something like that in Houston. And when he posted a video to his Instagram account shortly after the concert, Scott said he only knew then “that people passed” and he just wanted to speak to his fans.

Scott went on to indicate that he hopes people can prevent things like this from happening in the future.

On November 5, 2021, a fatal crowd crush occurred during the first night of the third annual Astroworld Festival, a music event founded by American rapper Travis Scott. The event was held at NRG Park in Houston, Texas. Ten people died: eight on the night of the concert, and two more in hospital over the following days.

Since the tragedy, numerous lawsuits have been filed on behalf of concertgoers against Scott, organizer Live Nation and other entities involved with the festival. Authorities are still investigating the deadly incident.

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