NYC Radio: Travis Scott Talks With WWPR's Charlamagne tha God

Charlamagne tha God and Travis Scott

Amid countless lawsuits against him, Travis Scott sat down with WWPR 105.1 FM The Breakfast Club radio personality, Charlamagne tha God, for his first public interview since a dangerous crowd surge injured hundreds and left 10 people dead during his Astroworld Festival performance on Nov. 5.

The Houston Chronicle reports that during a one-hour discussion shared to Charlamagne’s YouTube channel on Thursday, Scott, whose real name is Jacques Berman Webster II, shared that he's been experiencing a range of emotions, largely grief, trying to wrap his head around the tragedy and remained consistent to previous statements denying his knowledge of the severity of the mass casualty incident until the press conference that occurred after his set.

"Even after the show you're just kind of hearing things, but I didn't know the exact details until minutes before the press conference,” he said, adding, “And even at that moment you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’"

“People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that... it's just like," he added before trailing off.

He said it's difficult for an artist on stage to hear things from fans, like the many who cried for help, pleading for him to stop the show.

"Any time you can hear something like that you want to stop the show, you want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need," he said. "And anytime I could see anything like that I did. I stopped a couple times just to make sure everyone was okay. And I really go off the fans' energy as a collective you know call and response. And I just didn't hear that."

"You got lights, you got sound, you got pyro, you got your in-ears, you got your mic, got your music, you got band, there's all types of stuff going on. Everything kind of just sounds the same and at the end of the day you just hear music. When you into the show you just into the show and anytime you can feel anything close to you you try to definitely get to that."

In response to criticism that the event was poorly planned and understaffed, Scott pointed to the responsibilities for all involved. An artist is responsible for the creative side of the show, he said while he trusts the "professionals" to control what they can in the crowd and "make sure that people are taken care of and leaving safely."

James Lassiter, a Houston attorney representing the family of Bharti Shahani, a 22-year-old Texas A&M University student who died, and other injured festival attendees, responded to Scott's interview Thursday afternoon.

“Travis Scott’s attempt to escape responsibility for creating a deadly situation from which his fans could not escape is shameful and, sadly, true to form,” he said in a statement.

Houston's NRG Park, where the festival was held, occupied up to 50,000 guests that night, a crowd size that Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said he had enough officers onsite to handle. But he also said he could not have abruptly ended the show for fear of sparking a riot his department could not control.

Finner said the “ultimate authority” to end the show resided with LiveNation and with Scott. The two parties have largely taken the hit for the continuation of the concert for an additional 37 minutes after local authorities declared the event a mass casualty.