After walking the 2022 Billboard Music Awards’ red carpet with girlfriend Kylie Jenner and 4-year-old daughter Stormi, Travis Scott took the stage for a performance of “Mafia” and “Lost Forever.” Scott’s BBMAs spot marks his first major awards show performance since a crowd crush during his Nov. 5 set at the Astroworld Festival in Houston left 10 people dead and thousands injured.
Performing in a room done up to look like a wintery bunker in an icy wasteland, Travis Scott – with a fuzzy satchel over his shoulder and furry pants to match – rapped his single “Mafia” while dry ice smoke swirled around him and his backup dancers, who were also decked out in furs. As the screen shifted to black and white, Scott then segued into “Lost Forever,” his hard-hitting collab with James Blake and Westside Gunn.
As Scott gears up to release his 2022 album Utopia, he faces ongoing litigation over the Astroworld tragedy. In January, several lawsuits were combined into a single large lawsuit, with multiple attorneys representing thousands of alleged victims who are suing Scott and the promoter Live Nation. During a December 2021 interview with Charlamagne Tha God, Scott spoke about the Astroworld deaths: “I went through something, fans went through something, people’s parents went through something. It really hurts, it hurts a community, it hurts a city. It’s just been a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, a lot of grieving, you know just trying to wrap my head around it.” When asked about responsibility, he replied, “As an artist, you just do the creative. And this to be my festival, I got to bring artists, creatively produce it. We just trust the professionals to make sure that people are taken care of and leaving safely.”
The Billboard Music Awards are produced by MRC Live & Alternative, a division of MRC. MRC and Penske Media are co-parent companies of Billboard.
