Travis Scott's Lawyer Defends His Interview With Charlamagne Tha God

Source: Rick Kern / Getty

Travis Scott’s recent interview with Charlamagne Tha God attracted a fair share of critics wondering why he did the sit-down – it turns out the rapper pushed for it to happen.

In an interview with TMZ on Thursday (December 9th), the “Sicko Mode” rapper’s attorney, Ed McPherson, addressed those people who got wind of the interview with The Breakfast Club host and stated it was his idea to speak out publicly that way.

“This was all Travis. Travis insisted on it, he’s been wanting to speak out to the public, to the fans. He’s been reaching out to the families affected,” McPherson said. The nearly hour-long interview was Scott’s first since the tragic events at the Astroworld Festival last month, where a crowd surge took the lives of ten people and resulted in numerous injuries among the 50,000 in attendance. When asked about the lack of effort in helping the families affected by the tragedy and the perceived lack of accountability of Scott by the hosts, McPherson replied, “He is taking responsibility. Is he going to sit there and say “hey, I saw what was going on and I didn’t do anything? No!” He then reiterated Scott’s claim that he couldn’t see what was going on from his vantage point on stage.

James Lassiter, who is representing the family of 22-year old victim Bharti Shahani, said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle afterward that the sit-down is “an hour-long exercise in classic gaslighting” of victims and their families. “He’s using this PR opportunity to try and salvage his career,” Lassiter said. “It’s very transparent to me and I hope it is to the whole world.”

McPherson did say at the end of the TMZ interview that Scott is adamant about wanting everyone to know that he’s still there for those affected by what happened, and did the sit-down with Charlamagne to try to figure out what exactly happened and to try to prevent incidents like that from occurring at future concert events.