Interview: The Summer Jam Cameraman Travi$ Scott Kicked Off Stage Tells Us What Really Happened Last Night

We spoke with Jameer Pond about getting kicked off the Summer Jam stage by Travi$ Scott.

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Travi$ Scott's antics yesterday were the talk of Hot 97's Summer Jam. Not Scott's new single he performed during his set and dropped after the show, not the amazing set Fabolous put on for the Tri-state area, not the riot that broke out outside of Met Life Stadium—Scott kicking off a cameraman took over Twitter for hours.

Known for his feverish sets, Travi$ likes to jump around and climb shit when he's on stage. So, he "asked" videographer Jameer Pond to kindly remove himself so he wouldn't get hurt. Well, not so kindly, actually. He called him a "nerd" and made sure he left the stage. Travi$ subsequently apologized, in the third person no less, but the damage had been done, and tweets of Jameer getting sonned poured down the timeline at a rapid pace.

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We got in touch with Jameer to talk about yesterday's unnecessary, embarrassing moment, and it seems he's harboring no hard feelings for Travi$ Scott. Check out what he had to say below and follow him on Twitter.

What was your job yesterday at Summer Jam?

I was a videographer. It was my job to take video so we could produce it into content. I was taking video behind the scenes, so that’s why I wasn’t up front. I was taking video from behind to get crowd atmosphere of the performances.

How many Summer Jams have you worked before?

This is my second.

Has anything like that ever happened to you before?

No. Well actually, in an unrelated event, there was one time Big Daddy Kane asked me to get off stage, but he told his manager and his manager tapped me and was like, "All right, you can’t be this close to Kane," but I was close, I was on the side of his face, and it was understandable.



I have no problem with him or his show, but I felt that what he did was disrespectful and it crossed the lines of manhood. I felt like he was trying to violate me, so I reacted.


What was your initial reaction when Travi$ stopped everything and called you out?

I didn’t even know he was talking to me at first. He was pointing, but I didn't think he was talking to me because I had been there the whole show. I had been back and forth recording on and offstage, but I stayed onstage for his whole set, so initially I didn’t know where it was coming from. So when he came and he started pointing his finger that’s when I realized he was talking to me. At that point, we were face to face and he was violating my personal space. We exchanged some words, because I thought what he was doing was crazy. That’s when people jumped on stage and kind of had to pull me away from the situation. I have no problem with him or his show, but I felt that what he did was disrespectful and it crossed the lines of manhood. I felt like he was trying to violate me, so I reacted.

He called you a nerd and was like "no disrespect" like that made it OK.

[Laughs.] Right, exactly. I can laugh about it now because cooler heads prevailed, but I asked him if he wanted to fight—not so much in those words—but I asked him if he wanted to fight because again, going back to me being a man, a short man from Brooklyn, I’ve been in plenty of situations where jokes go a little too far. That’s how I felt at the time, but cooler heads prevailed, and I’m able to walk away, and now with things going viral I’m able to laugh about it.

On Twitter, he said that he apologized to you. Is that true?

We personally never talked. What happened was I think he spoke to a number of people, and they told me that he apologized and that he didn’t mean anything by it. What he meant was, that’s how he likes to have his shows. I’m not a huge Travi$ Scott fan so that was my first time actually seeing him in concert. I didn’t know how he likes his shows. At that point, I thought he was just some dude who had a microphone in his hand who was trying to disrespect me. I didn’t stand for it.

He usually has crazy shows. He likes to bounce around the stage and climb on shit.

I started thinking and really absorbing that atmosphere and was like, "This dude is crazy." I like the energy and what he was doing on stage. It was cool. I thought he was very entertaining until, of course, when he started pointing his finger in my face. Then things got a little hairy.

You had to get footage of every stage performance from a behind-the-scenes perspective?

The atmosphere, behind-the-scenes, the crowd. I made sure for each performance that I stayed out of their way. I wasn’t intrusive. I wasn’t messing up the atmosphere. Prior to the incident, I was there the whole time, so the last five to 10 minutes I guess he noticed me even though we’d already made eye contact. I guess he felt like I was the only one on stage that he didn’t know. That was toward the end. I remember because as soon as I left the stage, he brought 2 Milly out.

At that time, do you remember anybody else being on stage?

I was so caught up in it that I didn’t realize that Mike Dean was standing next to me playing guitar. I was so caught up. I think I was the only videographer at the time on stage. I think it was just me. I felt a little weird at the beginning of the set like, "Maybe I shouldn’t be here because it was just me," but I didn’t see a problem with it so I kept recording.

I was never bad with Travi$ Scott. I’m not going to attack another African-American man in the media because that’s already being done, and it’s being done a lot. What I will say is, I respect him as a man and I want the same respect. He tried to take me out of character. I’m a pretty lighthearted guy so I can laugh about it, and one day I’ll put it in a book, but at the time I was like, "However you feel right now we can take it there." I have no problems with him, and I respect him for apologizing. That doesn’t mean I forgive him or forget about the situation.

Going to be checking for some Travi$ Scott music now?

[Laughs.] Like I said, I don’t mind him, and yesterday was really the first time I really genuinely listened to his music. I don’t mind his music—it reminds me a lot of Kanye but with a rougher edge. It’s not typically the type of music I would listen to. I’m more of an old school ’90s R&B type of dude, and I like Kendrick, Mick Jenkins, Earl Sweatshirt. [Travi$] is not really in that realm, but I respect his sound. I don’t know if I’ll be buying any of his music anytime soon, but I’m not going to discourage anybody else not to. I respect his fans and loyal supporters.

Angel Diaz is a staff writer for Complex Media. Follow him @ADiaz456.

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