In His First Post-Astroworld Interview, Travis Scott Says He’s Been On An ‘Emotional Rollercoaster’

Since the Astroworld Festival tragedy, Travis Scott has shared a couple of statements here and there, but now, he has given his first interview since the festival.

In a 50-minute conversation with Charlamagne The God, Scott spoke about how he’s been feeling lately, saying:

“I’ve been on different types of emotions, you know? An emotional rollercoaster, I mean. It gets so hard because, you know, I always feel connected with my fans. I went through something and I feel like fans went through something and people’s parents went through something, and it really hurts. It hurts the community, it hurts the city. There’s been a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving, and just trying to wrap my head around it. And really just wanting to be there and wishing you could just hold everyone, kind of just heal them, talk to them, have conversations. It really just hurts, man.”

Charlamagne then asked Scott was his intention for the interview was and Scott responded, “I don’t personally have an intention, I just feel like something happened and I feel like it’s just… I needed a way to kinda like communicate, you know? One, families are grieving. There’s fans that experienced something, there’s fans that came to the show. I’ve always been that person to always see things through with the people that share the experiences with me. […] I’ve been trying to just really figure things out.”

Watch the full interview above.

1,500 New Victims Have Filed Lawsuits Against Astroworld, Bringing The Total To Almost 3,000

Just days after the plaintiffs and defendants in the nearly 300 cases against the Astroworld Festival’s organizers agreed to consolidate those cases into one proceeding, another lawsuit was filed representing over 1,500 new plaintiffs, doubling the total to almost 2,800 people suing Live Nation and Travis Scott. Billboard reports that the massive group is represented by Brent Coon, a personal injury lawyer based in Beaumont, Texas. Coon’s press release announcing the suit read, “What happened at Astroworld was an unconscionable tragedy and it is important that justice is served for all those impacted,” but few details were revealed about the suit.

Meanwhile, Billboard also recently reported that with over 275 cases pending, the Astroworld organizers’ lawyers agreed with the plaintiffs’ representatives that all the cases would be consolidated under just one judge in order to simplify what is already a complex case. A filing read, “Transfer of all of these lawsuits to a single pretrial judge for consolidated and coordinated pretrial proceedings will eliminate duplicative discovery, conserve resources of the judiciary, avoid conflicting legal rulings and scheduling, and otherwise promote the just and efficient conduct of all actions.”

The new case will likely be folded into that same multi-district litigation. Meanwhile, Astroworld’s organizers have both secured their representation for the upcoming battle, with Live Nation tapping Susman Godfrey and Travis Scott securing Daniel Petrocelli, who previously defended Donald Trump against a fraud lawsuit over his real estate seminars.

Travis Scott Reportedly Denies Responsibility For Astroworld Tragedies And Seeks To Dismiss Lawsuits

It’s been about a month since a deadly crowd surge during Travis Scott’s set at his Astroworld festival in Houston injured hundreds and resulted in ten deaths. Since then, hundreds of lawsuits have been brought against both Scott and festival organizers. While Scott has offered to pay for funeral expenses (which half of the families refused), the rapper has now reportedly filed court documents that deny all responsibility in one of the lawsuits.

Per a recent report from TMZ, Scott is first seeking to have the lawsuits against him dismissed before attempting to fight them in court. The rapper allegedly just filed new court documents through his lawyer which deny the claims brought against him by plaintiff Jessie Garcia, who alleges they were in the crowd the night of the Astroworld tragedies. Essentially, the court documents ask a judge to dismiss the lawsuit permanently and issues a “general denial,” which denies all claims brought against him and his Cactus Jack label by Garcia.

TMZ’s report goes on to claim that Scott plans on issuing a similar response to all other Astroworld lawsuits brought against him, which there have been many of, and a new motion filed last week might make that a bit easier for him to do. The attorneys for both the victims and the festival filed a joint petition for the 275 lawsuits (representing over 1,200 people) to be combined into a multi-district litigation that would be handled by one judge.

Travis Scott’s Astroworld Lawyer Revealed To Have Trump Connections

Travis Scott has been in a whole heap of trouble since this year’s Astroworld Festival, where 10 people were killed and 300 injured as the result of a crowd crush. Now, he and Astroworld promoter Live Nation (and Live Nation’s ScoreMore subsidiary) are facing over 100 lawsuits from attendees and the families of victims, with the total damages being demanded topping $3 billion. Among them are the families of a nine-year-old and a 14-year-old who both died due to their injuries, as well as a pair of security guards from the concert who handled what they believed to be dead bodies.

Yesterday, it was reported that Travis and Live Nation had secured representation for the upcoming onslaught of cases (which might be condensed to one, big, more manageable case), but today, it looks like Travis’ choice is already drawing even more negative attention for the embattled Houston rapper. As interested parties look into Daniel Petrocelli, Travis’ lawyer, they’ve come to realize that Petrocelli was the lawyer that Donald Trump called to defend him from fraud lawsuits stemming from his Trump University real estate seminars. Petrocelli was able to negotiate a $25 million settlement.

That may be just the outcome the rapper is looking for; at least one of the lawsuits against him is demanding $750 million among 120 Astroworld attendees, so paying out just a fraction via settlement could very well be the best-case scenario for him.

Hulu Takes Down A TV Special Titled ‘Astroworld: Concert From Hell’ After Backlash

Tragedy struck last month during Travis Scott’s performance at his annual Astroworld festival. A massive crowd surge of 50,000 people left hundreds injured and ten people dead, including a nine-year-old boy. Seeing as families and friends of victims are still coping with the insurmountable loss, many thought Hulu’s decision to host a TV special titled Astroworld: Concert From Hell on their site was highly insensitive.

The 50-minute Astroworld: Concert From Hell program recapped the events that went down at the Houston festival. The description of the documentary special says it gives a “minute-by-minute look at what happened” that night: “Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival was supposed to be the concert of a lifetime. But it turned into a tragic nightmare. A minute-by-minute look at what happened in the crowd, the young victims who were killed, and what happens next.”

People on social media caught eventually caught wind of the documentary special and condemned Hulu, with one user saying it was in “poor taste.” Eventually, Hulu opted to remove it from their website completely. A spokesperson for Hulu told Variety: “This was an investigative local news special from ABC13/KTRK-TV in Houston that originally aired on November 20th. This was not a Hulu documentary and has since been removed to avoid confusion.”

Read Variety‘s full report of the TV special here.

Travis Scott And Live Nation Reveal Their Head Attorneys As They Prepare For Astroworld Cases

The Houston Chronicle reports Live Nation and Travis Scott, under fire for the recent disaster at the Astroworld Festival last month, have made a prominent hire as they prepare to defend themselves from a deluge of cases from injured attendees and the families of the 10 people who died as a result of the crowd crush at Astroworld.

Scott has tapped global corporate law firm O’Melveny & Myers’ head of litigation Daniel Petrocelli, who is best known for representing Fred Goldman in the 1997 trial against OJ Simpson for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. OJ was found liable in that case, despite being previously acquitted for the murders in a criminal trial.

It was Petrocelli who reached out to the families of victims who died at the festival with the offer to cover funeral costs; however, half the families, including that of 9-year-old Ezra Blount, rejected the offer, writing in response, “[Scott] must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy. There may be, and I hope there is, redemption and growth for him on the other side of what this painful process will be – and perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet – as there is also healing in that.”

Meanwhile, Live Nation’s head defender will be the Susman Godfrey law firm, prompting the lawyer representing about 75 victims to say, “For Live Nation to hire the Susman firm shows that the company knows it is in deep trouble and is preparing for a bet-the-company litigation fight.”

According to the Chronicle, more than 120 lawsuits have been filed by about 600 plaintiffs seeking damages totaling over $3 billion. The cases may be consolidated in order to manage the caseload.

Megan Thee Stallion Cancels Her Houston Show ‘Out Of Respect’ To The Astroworld Victims

Tragedy struck during Travis Scott’s set at his Astroworld festival earlier this month. A massive crowd surge suffocated attendees, leaving countless injuries and ten dead, including a 9-year-old. The friends and families of victims are still coping with the aftermath and Scott has been sued by many festivalgoers. As a result of the tragedy, Megan Thee Stallion has decided to cancel a show she was set to play in Houston later this week.

The rapper is currently on tour in support of her recent music. She even surprised fans at a BTS show over the weekend to perform her remix of their No. 1 track “Butter.” While she was previously set to return to her home state of Texas to play a show in Houston, the rapper has decided to forgo the show “out of respect” to the Astroworld victims.

In a statement given to the Houston Chronicle, Megan explained her decision to cancel the performance:

“Out of respect for the lives lost in Houston earlier this month, I have decided to cancel my show at 713 Music Hall on Dec 3. Houston is still healing and it’s important that our community be given the appropriate time to grieve. My heart goes out to all the families that are suffering during this difficult time.”

Read the Houston Chronicle‘s full report here.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Family Of The 9-Year-Old Astroworld Victim Rejected Travis Scott’s Offer To Cover Funeral Costs

The tragedy that was this year’s Astroworld festival left a number of attendees dead, and the youngest of which is a nine-year-old boy. Though Travis Scott has been deeply apologetic about his deadly event, and even offered to help cover funeral costs for those who lost loved ones at the festival, some families of victims aren’t interested in his money.

The lawsuits against Travis and the festival organizers are still coming in, though, including one filed by Treston Blount, the father of Ezra Blount, the nine-year-old who was trampled to death during the festival. Ezra was laid to rest last without any help from Scott, though Scott’s lawyers said the rapper’s offer to cover expenses would have no impact on the lawsuit.

“Your client’s offer is declined,” Blount family attorney Bob Hilliard said in a response obtained by Rolling Stone. “I have no doubt Mr. Scott feels remorse. His journey ahead will be painful. He must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy. There may be, and I hope there is, redemption and growth for him on the other side of what this painful process will be — and perhaps one day, once time allows some healing for the victims and acceptance of responsibility by Mr. Scott and others, Treston and Mr. Scott might meet, as there is also healing in that.”

Ezra was on his dad Treston’s shoulders during the festival, until the two were trapped in a crowd surge and Treston passed out. Ezra was later found in a coma at a nearby hospital, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

A 14-Year-Old Astroworld Victim’s Family Sues Travis Scott And Live Nation

The latest reported Astroworld lawsuit comes from the family of a 14-year-old high school freshman who was killed at the festival along with nine others including a nine-year-old boy and a man who died trying to pull his fiancee out of the surging crowd. According to People, the family of John Hilgert seeks $1 million in damages while condemning the “gross negligence” of the festival’s organizers and promoters, including Live Nation and Scoremore.

“Defendants egregiously failed in their duty to protect the health, safety, and lives of those in attendance at the concert,” the lawsuit reads, “including but not limited to the failure to provide adequate security personnel to implement crowd control measures, proper barricades, and the failure to provide a sufficient amount of emergency medical support.”

A press release from Chris and Nichole Hilgert, the 14-year-old’s parents, asserts that the couple wants to reform concert presentation, with changes including assigned seating in general admission areas and increases in security and medical personnel on-site. “This pain should never be felt by anyone over a loved one attending a live concert,” Chris said in the statement. “Our sole aim in filing this lawsuit is to prevent this type of tragedy from ever happening again at a live concert. There is no excuse for the poor crowd design, event execution, and lack of response that was exercised at this festival that resulted in the tragic death of our son and nine others along with scores of other people that were innocently injured.”

Two Astroworld Security Guards Have Sued Travis Scott After Witnessing Festival Deaths

As Travis Scott and Live Nation continue to get bombarded with lawsuits stemming from the deaths at Astroworld Festival, one of the latest comes from some of the staff who actually worked the festival, rather than attendees or their families. According to TMZ, two of the fest’s security guards, Samuel and Jackson Bush, are suing the festival’s organizers, as well as security contractors AJ Melino and Associates, for $1 million in damages after being traumatized by personally witnessing some of the deaths that took place as a result of the crowd crush and inadequately equipped facilities.

Both men not only claim mental distress from watching CPR performed on unconscious people and personally pulling someone from the crowd who later died, but also physical injuries suffered while trying to help control the chaos of the event.

Despite the seemingly large ask of $1 million, the Bushes’ lawsuit is actually at the low end of the Astroworld fallout spectrum, with one of the over 20 lawsuits demanding $750 million in damages for over 125 Astroworld attendees. Another lawsuit filed by the family of a nine-year-old boy who was trampled in the crowd (and later died) also seeks $1 million.

The fallout from the Astroworld disaster has also begun to affect other events; the organizers of Rolling Loud have implemented an age limit policy on their upcoming event in California, perhaps hoping to mitigate the liability in the case of another crowd control failure.