Travis Scott: statement analysed
What do his words say?
Travis Scott released a video following the Astroworld tragedy. It got a lot of attention for his demeanour, he looks very stressed and upset in it. Away from how he looked, I thought it would be interesting to look at what he says.
At the time the video was released, he was already facing lawsuits and allegations that he should have stopped his show when he realised there were issues in the crowd.
Here are his words:
I just want to send out prayers to the.... to the ones that was lost last night. We’re actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.
You know my fans ..my fans. Like my fans really mean the world to me and I always just wanna leave them with a positive experience.
Any time I could make out, you know, anything that's going on, you know, I you know I stop the show and, you know, helped them get the help they need you know
I could just never imagine the severity of the situation.
We’ve been working closely... we been working closely with everyone to just try to get to the bottom of this, the city of Houston, HPD, fire department you know everyone you know help us .... help us figure this out so if you have any information um you know please just contact the local authorities
Everybody continue to just keep your prayers ... I mean.. I’m honestly just devastated. And I could never imagine anything like this just happening. Im gonna do everything I can to keep you guys updated... the keep you guys informed of what’s going on
Love you all
Let’s break it down
It’s difficult to see what the point of the statement is. It’s very probable that, given the lawsuits, he’s been told not to apologise and not to mention the events of the previous night.
The video is addressed solely to his fans. He acknowledges the victims once, and talks about helping their families but doesn’t address them directly.
If you watch the video, it is obvious he is stressed, and you can see that in the words too. There are many stutters and false starts as he chooses his words carefully.
Me and us
He mentions himself a lot. What he’s feeling and how he will keep people updated.
Whenever he talks about the efforts going on to help the families or uncover what happened, he uses the pronouns we and us:
We’re actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.
We’ve been working closely... we been working closely with everyone to just try to get to the bottom of this, the city of Houston, HPD, fire department you know everyone you know help us .... help us figure this out so if you have any information um you know please just contact the local authorities
This suggests he’s not personally involved in those efforts but has other people working on them.
Honestly
The word “honestly” stands out a lot when it is used. People who are being straightforwardly honest usually don’t feel the need to tell us they are being honest, they’re just honest. When Scott says, “I’m honestly just devastated” I question why he wants to convince us he is devastated. “I’m devastated” would have been stronger.
He also doesn’t say what he’s devastated about.
Imagine
Twice, Scott talks about how he couldn’t imagine this happening:
I could just never imagine the severity of the situation.
And I could never imagine anything like this just happening
This is the closest he gets to talking about the events that caused multiple deaths, and it’s interesting that he talks about it this way. There are two possibilities.
It could be that he feels guilt about what happened and, as is normal, he has questioned whether there was more he could have done ahead of time to prevent this.
It could be that he did see from the stage that an incident was happening in the crowd but didn’t think it could be serious enough to stop the show.
Either way, the use of “imagine” suggests he feels guilt about what happened. Feeling guilt is a perfectly normal reaction after a traumatic event and doesn’t imply real guilt.
Conclusion
This is a damage limitation statement direct to Scott’s fans that is more concerned with reputation than the dead and their families.
Beyond what he wants to convey, it’s obvious that Scott is carrying a lot of stress and some feelings of guilt and wondering if there was more he could have done.
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