On Monday (Sept. 18), Travis Scott reportedly underwent an extensive eight-hour deposition in Houston. The questions were tied to the myriad of lawsuits filed over the deadly 2021 Astroworld Festival.
“Travis Scott’s deposition is typical legal procedure. What is not typical is how the media continues to focus on him despite being cleared of any wrongdoing by extensive government investigations, including by the Houston Police Department,” asserted Ted Anastasiou, the rapper’s spokesperson.
Per AP News, Anastasiou added, “Travis is fully cooperating with the legal process while still remaining committed to his tour in support of his record-breaking album, UTOPIA, and his charitable efforts to support at-risk communities.”
In June, a grand jury absolved Scott and five others from any criminal charges. It followed an in-depth investigation by the Houston police into the tragedy. Moreover, the department produced a 1,300-page report in July that spotlighted critical warnings raised by festival workers about potential hazards.
Speaking two days after the tragic event, Scott told officers that, apart from witnessing a single attendee receiving medical aid, the crowd appeared engaged in the performance with no obvious signs of distress.
Recounting the horrific evening, experts drew parallels between the fatalities at Astroworld, where victims aged between 9 and 27 succumbed to compression asphyxia, to other mass crush incidents. Meanwhile, the first trial date for the lawsuits is slated to be May 6, 2024. It will mark nearly 2 1/2 years since the concert.
Scott spoke on the incident in an interview with Charlamagne Tha God in December 2021. He said, “It’s so crazy because I’m that artist, too. Anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need. Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple [of] times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans’ energy as a collective — call and response. I just didn’t hear that.”