Travis Scott's attorney insists rapper 'did not know' about crowd surge during Astroworld set
Travis Scott's attorney has insisted the rapper had no idea about the crowd crush during his headline set at Astroworld Festival last week.
The Sicko Mode hitmaker was performing at NRG Park in Houston, Texas on 5 October when the crowd surged, resulting in multiple fatalities, with the death toll rising from eight to nine people on Thursday.
Scott has been heavily criticised for not stopping the show when the crowd became out of control, and he has been named as a defendant in lawsuits from two injured festivalgoers.
His attorney Edwin F. McPherson appeared on Good Morning America on Friday and was asked why Scott continued performing for another 40 minutes after Houston police declared a mass casualty incident, and he insisted his client never received the message.
"We've seen footage of police half an hour later just walking about and not looking like it was a mass casualty event, but clearly, the important thing is that (the message) never got to Travis, never got to Travis' crew. He is up there trying to perform. He does not have any ability to know what's going on down below, certainly on a mass level," McPherson stated.
Footage shows Scott briefly halting the show after he spotted someone passing out and when he saw an ambulance in the crowd. When asked when the rapper found out about the full extent of the situation, McPherson insisted he had no idea until hours later.
"Travis didn't really understand the full effect of everything until the next morning," he said. "Truly, he did not know what was going on... But understand, when he's up on the stage and has flash pops going off around him and he has an ear monitor that has music blasting through it, he can't hear anything, he can't see anything."
On Thursday, the 30-year-old's representatives issued a statement saying he was "distraught by the situation" and wanted to connect with anybody impacted by the tragedy. They shared an email address and urged families connected to the incident to get in touch.
