The artist Travis Scott, one of the most prominent figures in rap in recent years, and known to the general public for his back-and-forth romantic relationship with Kylie Jenner—the youngest of the Kardashian sisters, with whom he has two children—, He was arrested early this morning on June 20 in Miami (Florida). The 33-year-old Texan musician has been charged by the police with two charges: trespassing on property (a boat, in this case) after being warned about it and public intoxication. It is known that said intoxication is, at least, from alcohol, but it is not specified if he had also consumed drugs. Florida law prohibits appearing high or drunk, or consuming alcoholic beverages, in a public place or on public transportation and causing a public disturbance. In addition to the arrest, Scott has been fined $150 for the drunkenness and $500 for the trespassing. As read in the official documents of the case, the musician told the police officers: “This is Miami.”
The incident took place early in the morning at the Miami Beach Marina, a port south of the city’s beach area, just before two in the morning. Authorities were alerted that an incident was taking place on a boat, which appeared to be a fight. When they arrived, according to an affidavit obtained by the magazine People, Scott was “yelling at the occupants of a ship.” Close sources have stated to media outlets such as Page Six that “there were no physical altercations”; He screamed and the owners (whose identity is unknown) wanted to throw him out. “Officers contacted Scott to conduct an investigation. They asked him to sit down, at which point he temporarily sat down and then began to continually get up, ignoring the officers’ commands. “Throughout the interaction, officers at the scene could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from the defendant’s breath,” the case file reads.
The owners of the boat did not want to press charges, they only asked him to leave the boat, and then the dock. The police also invited him to do so. Apparently, as he walked from the ship to the boardwalk, according to these documents, Scott turned around and “shouted obscenities” at the ship’s occupants. In fact, he returned only five minutes later, ignoring what both the owners and the police had asked of him. He “began shouting again erratically, breaking the peace of those at the port and nearby residential buildings and causing a public disturbance.” Hence they finally decided to arrest him and take him to the police station.
Jacques Bermon Webster II, the artist’s real name, ended up entering the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 4:35 in the morning. No further charges or further investigation are expected as he has paid the fine. The performer is about to start an ambitious tour called Circus Maximus which will take him through twenty European cities starting next June 28 to present his latest album, Utopia, which has been very well received. For the moment, everything is still standing and it does not seem that the incident is going to affect its development.
The rapper, nominated for a Grammy 10 times, has been maintaining erratic behavior for years that many even call him megalomaniac. For this tour he intended to perform his show at the pyramids of Giza, but Egypt has not been in favor of the idea because of the “strange rituals” that he performs in his showswhich, according to the country’s authorities, “alter Egyptian and Arab social values and customs.”
His most sadly known episode was the death of 10 people (in addition to dozens of injuries) during his performance at the Astroworld festival in Houston (Texas) in November 2021 due to an avalanche. He then declared himself “absolutely devastated” and determined to “support the affected families”. Their shows are chaotic, disorderly, and in this case it got out of hand, becoming unmanageable for the security forces, who had a 56-page plan (and 20 ambulances at the door, although more than 60 were needed) to be able to manage what happened to the 50,000 attendees. There were almost 60 lawsuits. He did not face criminal charges, but remains implicated in civil cases due to poor organization of the event.
