Fyre Festival

Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival organized by businessman Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. It was created to promote the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take place on April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.

The event was promoted on Instagram by social media influencers, actors, reality TV stars and models including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin, and Emily Ratajkowski.^[1]

When the event opened, it had many problems relating to security, food, shelter, medical services, and artist relations, causing the event to be cancelled. Many people paid a large amount of money which was said to go to 'gourmet' food options and 'luxury' shelter, however they only received packed sandwiches and were forced to stay in tents.^[1][2]

In March 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud to defraud investors and ticket holders, and a second count to defraud a ticket vendor.^[3] In October 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to give out US$26 million.^[3] At least eight lawsuits began against the organizers for defrauding ticket buyers.

Two documentaries about the events of the festival were released in 2019: Hulu's Fyre Fraud,^[4] and Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.^[5][6]

On April 9, 2023, Billy McFarland said that there was to be a Fyre Festival II.^[7]

References

1. Megan Cerullo (April 28, 2017). "A complete "s--t show"". Vice. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2017. Rich millennials paid thousands for Ja Rule's Fyre Fest and are now stranded on an island in disaster-relief tents
2. Plaugic, Lizzie (April 28, 2017). "Ja Rule's music festival disaster is a good reminder not to trust Instagram sponcon". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 30, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
3. "Where are Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland and Ja Rule now?". Evening Standard. April 29, 2019. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
4. "Hulu Debuts Fyre Festival Doc Days Before Rival Netflix Project". The Hollywood Reporter. January 14, 2019. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
5. Locklear, Mallory (January 10, 2019). "Netflix's 'Fyre' shows how fraud built and doomed Fyre Festival". Engadget. Archived from the original on February 10, 2019.
6. Cohn, Warren H. (February 25, 2019). "How Social Media Led To The Rise And Fall Of The Fyre Festival". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 25, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
7. Singh, Surej (2023-04-11). "Fyre Festival II "is finally happening", says Billy McFarland". NME. Retrieved 2024-05-07.