Rolling Loud founder retracts Travis Scott Astroworld comments

NME

Rolling Loud Miami co-founder Tariq Cherif has retracted a comment he made about Travis Scott earlier this week.

After Kanye West pulled out of this year’s event many fans speculated that Scott would be the perfect replacement.

But Cherif quickly shut down the possibility of that happening after he responded to fan comments online, stating that “the venue won’t allow Travis because of Astroworld deaths”.

Scott is currently facing several lawsuits after the 2021 crowd crush during his headlining set at Astroworld 2021 left 10 people dead and many more injured.

But Cherif has since retracted his comments according to TMZ which claims that Tariq said Rolling Loud actually did reach out to Scott to headline the event, but “it couldn’t work in time”.

His comment mirrors a statement from a spokesperson for the festival who told Rolling Stone: “We reached out to Travis to headline Rolling Loud, but it couldn’t work in such a short time. This had nothing to do with any restrictions from the hosting venue Hard Rock Stadium.”

NME has contacted a spokesperson for Rolling Loud for further comment.

Kid Cudi – a longtime colleague of West’s – has since stepped in to headline the first night of the event this Friday (July 22). Future will lead the fray on Saturday (July 23) and Kendrick Lamar will wrap things up on Sunday (July 24). See more details on the festival here.

West is yet to address the cancellation of his set, and in a statement offered by Cherif and fellow co-founder Matt Zingler, it was noted that the rapper simply “decided that he will no longer be performing”.

“We spent months working with him and his team,” the pair explained (via Pitchfork). “This is the first time a headliner has ever pulled off our show and though we don’t take it lightly, we wish him the best. We look forward to welcoming Kid Cudi as a headliner in Miami and we can’t wait to see what he has in store.”

This marks the second time this year that West has backed out of a headlining spot at a major music festival. He was originally booked to headline this year’s Coachella back in April, but dropped out just days before the gates were due to open.

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