Is Travis Scott untouchable? Lollapalooza 2015, Astroworld and now a New York nightclub

Cross your fingers, toes and anything else you can for those who purchased Wireless Festival tickets this year in the hopes to see Travis Scott perform in the UK. The latest controversy surrounding the hip-hop artist has now seen New York law enforcement seek the Astroworld artist regarding an alleged assault in a New York nightclub.

A sound engineer at Club Nebula alleges that Scott punched him in the face following a verbal altercation early on Wednesday morning. It is alleged that Scott also caused $12,000 (£10,000) worth of damage to a speaker and video screen. Police officers attended the scene. Scott had been performing a DJ set at the club, for an afterparty to a concert by labelmate Don Toliver.

Should Scott be found guilty, that might lead to the UK Home Office forbidding Scott, 30, from entering the country much in the same vein that Odd Future’s Tyler The Creator and at one stage Snoop Dogg were prevented from entering the country either due to a criminal record or if the artist is viewed as a detriment to society.

Have the numerous controversies and arrests had a detriment to Travis Scott’s brand, however? Apparently not - as the hip-hop artist even after his first moment of rabble-rousing at Lollapalooza in 2015 still managed to retain endorsements with McDonald’s and Fortnite. Two businesses that still have a resonance with younger people.

So is Travis Scott untouchable? It’s starting to feel that way - from navigating the ugly aftermath of the Astroworld 2021 fallout to dealing with a very public allegation of cheating with one of the world’s most high-profile users of social media - and his baby’s mama - Kylie Jenner.

Peopleworld takes a look at the big controversies that have surrounded Travis Scott, which all have one particular theme - he likes to instigate trouble within his audiences. Scott’s defence for this has always been that his music is a means for people to release their energy. But his critics, they’ll say it’s a sign he doesn’t care for accountability for his actions. His critics’ words, not ours.

Lollapalooza 2015

Scott’s first well-known instance of crowd trouble came during his appearances at the Lollapalooza Festival 2015, in particular his appearance during the Chicago leg of the festival. Scott was riling the crowd up, as usual hyping up the energy they had on offer, however, started to incite trouble during his set.

Partway through, he was caught telling people to charge onto the stage and disregard security at the front. The fans, accordingly, complied with this request leading to Travis getting charged with disorderly conduct.

The Office of Emergency Management issued a statement saying: “The performer played one song and then began telling fans to come over the barricades. The performer fled the scene and was taken into custody a short while later.“

Did it affect his endorsement deals?: Not at all -, a year later, designer Riccardo Tisci decided to tap the rapper to model the gear he designed for his “Summer of Sport” collaboration with NikeLab alongside other big names like Kim Jones and Jun Takahashi.

Arkansas - 2017

Another rowdy audience, another chance for Travis Scott to whip the crowd into a frenzy. This time it was during his Birdseye View tour in 2017, in particular his performance at the Walmart Music Pavilion in Rogers, Arkansas.

Scott invited fans to make one last push toward the pit if they wanted to get closer to the stage, telling his fans “before I go to this next song, I’m gonna have to invite just a couple more people down here to rage with these m***********s.”

The fans once again promptly decided to storm the stage, crashing through safety barricades at the front of the stage and the subsequent security team waiting for them. Travis, seeing the security team doing their job, then decided to launch into the workers. "I see’em! Security, let ‘em through. Security, let ‘em through! Let ‘em through.”

His reasoning this time regarding the lack of crowd control was that the Head of Security at the Walmart Music Pavilion was not being “on the job.” This came after Travis safely ran off stage when local law enforcement once again decided that enough was enough.

Did it affect his endorsement deals?: Quite the opposite - 2017 was a very lucrative year for Travis Scott who had numerous collaborations and endorsements after his last controversy.

2017 saw Travis Scott’s first project with Jordan Brand drop in the form of the Jordan Trunner PE Surfaces, his first collab with Nike with the Air Force 1 brand, and his appearing in an advert alongside Kyrie Irving for the Adidas Harden Vol. 1 - despite being a brand partner for Nike at the time.

Astroworld - 2018-2021

Sadly, it wasn’t as if Scott wasn’t aware of the frenzy that his fans were capable of, which led to the sad crowd crush during the 2021 Astroworld event at NRG Park in Houston, Texas. Eight people died as the crowd tried to force their way to the front of the stage, and Scott has been heavily criticised for his part in not controlling the crowds and stoking their physicality at his shows.

But it’s not as if the 2021 Astroworld trouble was unprecedented; three years before at Scott’s very first Astroworld Festival, crowds were seen chanting, banging through the gates, bursting through barricades, and pushing down fences to get into the festival. Security, for their part, were seen laughing, plugging their ears, and joining arms to make a human barricade for protection.

All of this was captured and used in the 2021 documentary about the Astroworld crush - so the footage was captured, and must have been shown to Scott and his team before it saw the light of day, but yet the worst-case scenario from these close calls led to the disaster in Houston.

Did this affect his endorsements?: Well - if the number of sneakers he released through Nike was anything to go by in the 12 months after this controversy is any indicator, there was once again no effect.

In fact, between 2018 and 2019 was a peak period for Travis Scott and his endorsements; his Cactus Jack brand released their latest collaboration with Nike in the form of the ‘Cactus Jack’ Air Jordan 4 Releases in June 2018.

He made a minor update to the first Travis Scott x Nike Air Force 1 by switching the white shade to sail in August 2018, another Cactus Jack x Nike collaboration with the Air Jordan 33 sneakers in February 2019, and the Air Jordan 1 that debuted in May 2019. Featuring his now-signature shade of brown and reverse Swoosh on the lateral side panels, the pair is still the one collab that many Travis fans are after to this day.

While the court of public opinion is continually in and out regarding his controversies, he is still viewed as a very powerful brand in terms of getting eyes onto products. His appeal to younger audiences also (hence the Fortnite performance and his collaboration with McDonald’s) seems more lucrative for advertisers and brands despite his controversies.

Travis Scott - potentially Teflon coated, at present it seems. Except when it comes to matters regarding Kylie Jenner…