Travis Scott says he didn't find out about Astroworld fan injuries until after show

10 people have lost their lives and hundreds others were injured after the crowd surged forward during Travis Scott's headline set at Astroworld 2021 last month, and after reports that he's requested for the lawsuits he's named in to be dismissed, Travis Scott has given his first interview since the tragedy, which sees him sit down with Charlamagne Tha God.

Near the start of the interview, Charlamagne Tha God asked Scott when he found out about the injuries and deaths, leading the rapper to reply, "It wasn’t really until minutes until the press conference until I figured out what happened. Even after the show, you know, you’re just kind of hearing things, which I didn’t know the exact details until, you know, minutes before the press conference. And even at that moment you’re kind of just like, ‘Wait, what?’ You know, you just went through something."

The interview also saw Scott deny that he heard fans screaming for help in the crowd, "It’s so crazy because I’m that artist too - anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show," he explained. "You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need. Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans’ energy as a collective - call and response. I just didn’t hear that."

Scott told Charlamagne Tha God that from his perspective on stage, it was hard to see what was going on in the crowd with music, lights, pyrotechnics, the band, lights, and agreed with Charlamagne that it's hard to tell the difference between danger and excitement, "Everything kind of just sounds the same, and, at the end of the day, you just hear music." Scott said. "When you’re in the show, you just get the show, and any time you can feel anything close to you, you try to definitely get to that ... You can only help what you can see, and whatever you’re told. Whenever it might tell you to stop, you just stop."

When asked about the "raging" culture that have been tied to his live performances, Scott responded, "That’s something I’ve been working on for a while, is creating these experiences and trying to show these experiences are happening in a safe environment. Us as artists, we trust professionals for when things happen that people can leave safely. 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. People just showed up to have a good time and then something unfortunate happened and I think we really just got to figure out what that was."

"Raging… there’s not a textbook definition," he added. "But in concerts we’ve grown it to be just the experience of fun. It’s not about just… harm. It’s not about that. It’s about letting go and having fun, help others and love each other."

Scott also addressed the victims' families, saying, "I'm always here. I'm in this with you guys and I love you. I'll always be there to help you guys heal through this ... It's not just a right now thing, it's a forever thing."