Source: Rick Kern / Getty

Travis Scott is finally speaking out just one month after the horrific crowd-surging incident that claimed 10 lives at his Astroworld music festival in Houston.

During his emotional interview with The Breakfast Club’s Charlamagne Tha God, the Grammy-nominated artist maintained his innocence claiming that he had no idea that crowd-goers were being trampled during his performance. “It really hurts,” Scott explained of his emotions towards the tragic incident. “It hurts the community, it hurts the city. It’s a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving.”

The 30-year-old artist said that he wasn’t informed about what happened until “minutes before the press conference,” which was held after his chaotic concert. “People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that,” he said before becoming emotional. Scott explained that from his line of view from the stage, he could barely see what was going on out in the audience. The star did however state that anytime he saw a distressed fan in need that he made sure to call out to stage security for help. “Anytime I could see anything like that, I did,” Scott said. “I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK.”

The rapper has been heavily criticized for promoting “rage culture” at his previous concerts. The term stems heavily from mosh pit culture typically seen at a hard rock or metal show where crowd-goers aggressively push or slam into one another as they dance. Some critics have blamed the nature of the star’s rowdy shows as the catalyst for the unprecedented number of deaths and injuries. However, Scott claimed during the interview that raging at his shows were all in light of “letting go and having fun.” The Houston, Texas native said he assumed that NRG Park, where the tragedy occurred, had safety guidelines in place for fans. “As artists, you trust professionals for when things happen that people can leave safely,” Scott added. “And this night was just like a regular show, it felt like to me, as far as the energy,” he said. “People didn’t show up there just to be harmful. People just showed up to have a good time and something unfortunate happened and we just need to figure out what that was.”

On Dec. 6, Travis Scott requested that his name be dismissed from 11 lawsuits that were filed against him and the festival promoters Live Nation and Scoremore. Many of them cite “negligence” and “the encouragement of violence,” according to Buzz Feed. Defendants are seeking nearly $3 billion in damages, the outlet reported. According to documents filed by Scott, the rapper and his legal team said in a statement they “generally deny the allegations” brought forth in the victim’s suits and that they “respectfully request that the claims against these Defendants be dismissed with prejudice,” People reported.
ALSO SEE:

Astroworld Death Total Rises To 10 After 9-Year-Old Injured At Festival Passes Away

[ione_media_gallery id=”4072430″ overlay=”true”]