Following Kanye West’s departure from his headlining slot at Rolling Loud, many hip-hop fans took to social media to plead the case for Travis Scott to replace the Donda rapper. However, that idea was quickly pushed aside by one of the Miami festival’s founders, Tariq Cherif, who claimed Scott’s fatal Astroworld crowd rush made him an unlikely choice for venue officials.
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On Monday (July 18), Cherif responded to comments on Instagram about the festival line-up change, stating the “venue won’t allow Travis because of Astroworld deaths.” Fans began to speculate about a possible ongoing blacklist of the “Sicko Mode” rapper.
Now, festival organizers have come out to say Scott wasn’t banned from appearing at Hard Rock Stadium and the knee-jerk comment made by Cherif was out of frustration.
“We reached out to Travis to headline Rolling Loud, but it couldn’t work in such a short time,” a spokesperson for the festival told Rolling Stone. “This had nothing to do with any restrictions from the hosting venue Hard Rock Stadium.”
Cherif hasn’t commented on his decision to chalk Scott’s absence up to a venue restriction. Fellow rapper Kid Cudi will take over West’s spot on the opening night of the festival instead.
“This is another blatant, cynical attempt to attack Travis,” a representative of Scott said in a statement. “As even the complaint makes clear, this incident was related to a false report of a shooting mid-show, completely unrelated to Travis’s performance… This cheap opportunism is based on a blatant lie that’s easy to detect.”
Scott is still amid a slew of Astroworld-related lawsuits, including a wrongful death claim filed by a woman who lost her unborn child during the event. The rapper is also being sued for his 2019 appearance at Rolling Loud, where he allegedly caused a stampede.
Scott is set to headline his first major concert post-Astroworld on August 6 at the 02 Arena in London. In September, he will return to the festival circuit for Fest Day N Vegas before heading to Sao Paulo, Brazil for Primavera Sound.
(Photo by: Christopher Polk/NBC)
