Travis Scott says he is 'overly devastated' by Astroworld tragedy which left 10 dead and he thinks about disaster 'all the time': 'Those fans were like my family'

Travis Scott has revealed he is 'devastated' by the Astroworld disaster - which saw 10 people killed in a crowd surge at his November 5 2021 concert in Houston.

The musician, 32, who previously broke his silence on the tragedy in 2021, told GQ he thinks about the disaster 'all the time' and has had 'rough moments' in the two years since as he worked on comeback album, Utopia.

Those killed, who ranged in age from 9 to 27, died from compression asphyxia, which an expert likened to being crushed by a car.

Scott said: 'Making music, you think about things that go on in life and things that happen in your life, and you dial in on things. That moment for families, for the city, you know, it was devastating. And when it came to making, like even finishing the album…I got back into it probably like, I don’t know, months and months and months after. 

'And the idea of just even getting back into music, working on music and just even getting into that, was therapeutic of being able to channel some of the energy into production and sounds and finishing it.

'I mean I was just overly devastated, you know. Yeah... Yeah, I always think about it. Those fans were like my family. You know, I love my fans to the utmost. 

'It has its moments where it gets rough and…yeah. You just feel for those people. And their families.

In December 2021, speaking out about the November 5 tragedy Scott sat down with podcaster Charlemagne Tha God for an interview

In the interview, Scott blamed his 'in-ear' person for not urging him to stop the show sooner, and claimed that he wasn't aware of or responsible for the fatal stampede and crowd crush

Scott said that he is '1000 percent' certain he did everything he could have to prevent the tragedy, and claims he didn't hear the screams and cries for help as the crowd went out of control.

'Things happen, you know, and it's just been such a time, and I'm just trying to just really figure things out,' he said when asked why he was breaking his silence.

'My heart wasn’t there to be the villain—I was there to be a hometown hero.'

Scott struggled to contain his emotion at times as he spoke about the families that lost loved ones in the crowd stampede. 

'They lost their loved ones, I just always wanna be there for them, I'm gonna fix this problem and make sure this doesn't happen in the future and be the number one voice for this. We gotta figure it out,' he said.

Scott said that he had been 'in a room' processing the tragedy, but Charlemagne pressed him on photos that emerged last month showing him carousing on a golf course with Michael Jordan and actor Mark Wahlberg.

'It was just Thanksgiving, you know, and they were there,' the rapper explained. 'That was more just like a personal time.'

Charlemagne also asked Scott whether his encouragement of 'raging' was to blame, referring to the concert culture similar to mosh pits.

'Raging just the experience of having fun,' Scott claimed, adding that raging was an inducement to 'help others and love each other.'

'What happened here isn't off Travis Scott music,' he said, adding that 'music is healing' and suggesting that the tragedy might inspire future lyrics.

Scott claimed that he was only told that the show was going to end after the guest, referring to Drake, came on stage.

He said he was never told why the show was ending or what was occurring in the crowd. 'That's what came through my ear,' he said.

Scott blamed the media for pinning responsibility for the tragedy on him.

'Yeah, you know, the media, they want to put it on me, but at the end of the day I don't think it's more so about that, it's more so about stepping up to figure out what the problem is,' he said. 'Yeah, you know, I'm the face of the festival, I'm a artist, so yeah.'

Scott vowed that he was going to 'fix this for the future people' and 'be the number one voice for this.'

The rapper dismissed online rumors that his music and the AstroWorld concert had 'Satanic' imagery or connections, insisting that he is a 'man of God.'

'Evil is not what we're a part of. We're not trying to be a part of that, we're trying to be a part of joy,' he said.

Asked what he would do differently in future performances, Scot said: 'I'll do the same thing I've been doing just double, you know, making sure everybody is on post, and you know double down and make sure that everyone is locked in.'

Throughout the interview, Scott returned to the theme of vowing to ensure that similar tragedies do not occur in the future.

'I definitely wanna step in to figure out how can we fix this in the future. What can we do to change these things?' he said.

Asked who bears ultimate responsibility for the AstroWorld disaster, Scott replied: 'It's crazy 'cause something tragic happened here, and what I've just been trying to get to the bottom of is what happened here, how it happened here, and I think the families are owned that, I feel like you know the community is owed that.'

'I feel like we're owed that to know just, like, what happened. And, you know, I don't wanna speak to soon, I just want to figure out, you know, what happened, you know.'

Following an investigation by Houston Police, no charges were filed against Scott after a grand jury in June declined to indict him and five other people on any criminal counts related to the deadly concert. 

Police Chief Troy Finner declined to say what the overall conclusion of his agency´s investigation was.

In July, the police department made public its nearly 1,300-page investigative report in which festival workers highlighted problems and warned of possible deadly consequences.

According to a summary in the investigative report of a police interview conducted two days after the concert, Scott told investigators that although he did see one person near the stage getting medical attention, overall the crowd seemed to be enjoying the show and he did not see any signs of serious problems.

This was the first time Scott was questioned by attorneys for those who have filed lawsuits since a crowd surge at his November 5, 2021, concert in Houston killed 10 festivalgoers.

In September the musician was deposed in Houston for around eight hours in connection with hundreds of lawsuits that were filed against him and others over the deaths and injuries at the 2021 Astroworld festival.

Scott's attorneys claimed his phone is lost at sea after falling off a boat in the Gulf of Mexico in 2022 - after lawyers representing the plaintiffs of the 2021 Astroworld tragedy requested he turn his phone records over. 

Before his deposition, Astroworld plaintiff's lawyers filed an emergency motion last week seeking to obtain Scott's phone records regarding the festival, as well as records pertaining to his entity XX Global Inc. and employees including Cactus Jack general manager David Stromberg - and alleged he and his team had failed to provide the documents.

In response - Scott's attorney's claimed the star's phone fell into the sea two months after the November 5 2021 tragedy - and cannot be retrieved. 

Scott's deposition comes as a judge earlier this year scheduled the first trial from the lawsuits for May 6, 2024. That first trial would take place nearly 2.5 years since the deadly concert.

Documents filed in court in April listed more than 1,500 active cases, many of which were filed against Scott and Live Nation, the concert promoter.

Of these, 992 were cases with physical injuries and 313 were cases of 'emotional distress, pain, suffering and mental anguish.' Orthopedic surgeries have been completed in 17 of these cases, with other surgeries recommended in another 21.

Some of the lawsuits have since been settled, including those filed by the families of three of the people killed during the concert.

Scott shares two children with ex Kylie Jenner, 26 - daughter Stormi, five, and son Aire, 21 months.