Travis Scott

Travis Scott broke ground on his Cactus Jack newsstand pop-up this week in West Hollywood and to celebrate, the rapper made an in-person appearance. Once fans heard the news of the rapper’s attendance, people flooded the streets in order to catch a glimpse of him. The crowd ended up getting so massive that it broke LA’s COVID-19 restrictions and as a result, Scott is now reportedly under investigation by police.

Per a report from TMZ, Los Angeles’ Department Of Public Works did not receive a permit from Scott’s team for the event. The city has supposedly been conservative with granting permits lately, as they frown upon non-essential gatherings in order to combat the spread of the virus. Because of the huge crowd Scott attracted, the Public Works department is planning on consulting with the City Attorney’s office to discuss how to reprimand the rapper, which may include some potentially hefty fines.

Scott’s initial plan for his pop-up was to promote the “Utopia Issue” of i-D Magazine, which features an in-depth cover story with the rapper shot by Spike Jonze. Scott appeared at the newsstand to pass out a limited number of physical copies of the magazine, but the event ended up turning into a mob of sorts.

If he does end up having to pay a fine for the event, Scott wouldn’t be the first musician to be reprimanded for breaking COVID protocol. Back in November, UK pop singer Rita Ora broke London’s COVID restrictions when she threw an indoor birthday party at a restaurant for a group of friends. Along with facing backlash for the event, Ora was hit with a $12,000 fine by the government.

Check out photos and fan-captured footage of the pop-up crowd above.

Although the 2020 coronavirus pandemic has changed the way fans consume live music, Travis Scott still plans on seeing through his plans to bring the Astroworld Festival back to his hometown in 2021. The Houston rapper revealed as much to director Robert Rodriguez in an interview published on Vice.

In response to Rodriguez’s question about his post-pandemic plans for the festival, Travis confirmed, “Hopefully, we can bring it back at the end of this year. Around November.” While that may be the most optimistic outlook for the festival’s return, it’s in-line with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s prediction that some venues will be able to re-open in the fall, provided the vaccine rollout goes well enough to lower the levels of infection nationwide.

Unfortunately, despite the 2018 and 2019 festivals selling out and going well for Travis, the 2020 edition of the festival had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Travis also explained the effect that becoming a father has had on his art, saying, “Fatherhood influences my job. It has a huge impact. It’s a major inspiration… Storm, she’s just acting like a kid. She’s always interested, she catches on and learns things and adapts to things so fast. It’s so crazy, Stormi’s generation is way different from mine, and she’s way different from my younger brother and sister. Kids show you a different outlook on life, how they view things, the type of pressures they have and what makes them happy, what makes them move… You’ve got to use that properly.”

Read the full interview here.