Long Nguyen
Travis Scott Starting Committee to Improve Concert Safety After Astroworld
Travis Scott is following through on his vow to make sure a tragedy like Astroworld never occurs again.
The rapper has reportedly spent the last few weeks meeting with leaders from the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), a group that represents the interests of more than 1,400 cities across the country.
According to TMZ, his goal is to form a committee made up of members of government, public safety, emergency response, health care event management, music and technology, and create a safety report for future shows to follow and ensure safety and security.
The group, which will be led by the Chair of the Conference’s Tourism, Art, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee and Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve, says it will “aggressively focus on new technologies and innovations that offer ways to address these challenges.”
In his first interview since the Nov. 5 Houston festival, which resulted in 10 deaths and hundreds of injuries, Travis said he is committed to finding a solution to prevent tragedies like Astroworld from happening again.
“I have a responsibility to figure out what happened here. I have a responsibility to figure out the solution,” he said. “At the end of the day, collectively, everyone just needs to figure out the bottom line solution.”
He also addressed the grieving families. “I’ll say to them, I’m always here. I’m in this with you guys and I love you, and I’ll always be there to help you guys heal through this,” he said. “It’s not just a right now thing, it’s a forever thing. These people that came to the show, they are my family. I’ll always have that connection to the people that listen to the music or came to my shows.”
Travis reportedly insisted on doing the interview with Charlamnagne Tha God to show that he really cared. However, it was not well received by everyone. An attorney for one of the victims, 23-year-old Rudy Peña, said the interview was painful for them to watch.
“It seemed to kind of be an exercise in expressing his feelings to the public,” Valerie Cortinas Fisher told TMZ. “As far as Rudy’s family goes, it didn’t heal them, no.”