In 2019, Netflix released a documentary, Fyre, about ‘the greatest party that never happened.’
For those who haven’t already seen the doccie, thousands of festival goers and celebrity guests including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin, were duped into paying $12,000 (approx R216 000) and $250,00 (approx R4. 5 million) for VIP packages to the ‘luxury’ festival.
The festival, held on a private island that once belonged to Pablo Escobar, promised its guest attendees luxury villas, a-list entertainment, gourmet food and a five-star experience. Instead, what attendees of the festival were met with, was absolute chaos.
Watch the trailer for the documentary here:
After tens of thousands of festival goers, organisers, caterers and labourers lost their money buying tickets and prepping (on very short notice) for Fyre, Billy McFarland and co-founder, rapper Ja Rule followed through with the festival in any case, delivering disaster relief tents, cheese sandwiches and disorder to attendees, instead of the luxury cuisine and accommodation promised.
“What was supposed to be a luxury festival, ended up being more like a refugee camp.” says a Vice journalist, covering the aftermath of the event.
Festival organisers and people who worked the chaos of the event still have not been reimbursed, with many still facing an onslaught of financial issues caused by the festival:
After pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud, Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland went on to serve four of his six-year sentence in prison, and has just recently been released.
Now, McFarland’s back and hustling.
The festival fraudster is already hard at work behind a new business venture, ‘Pirate’ which got a brief mention in an interview Good Morning America conducted with McFarland after his release in prison:
McFarland claims that he was overwhelmed by the financial requirements of planning the festival, waking up to multiple ‘urgent payment sheets’ that needed to be handled.
“I literally took it day by day, doing whatever it took.”
That included taking money from festival employees, knowing he wasn’t able to pay it back.
McFarland goes on to explain that his pride, and wanting to make shareholders, employees and attendees aware of his ability to handle and succeed with the event, got in the way of the logical planning and financial process that came along with hosting a multi-million dollar event.
“I used to take pride in getting things done, not how things got done.”
McFarland says that going forward, he aims to build honest, working relationships in business.
As it stands, the fraudster still owes a whopping $32 million in restitutions, which will be siphoned from the festival creator until all money is paid back.
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Feature Image: Good Morning America
