Wait – WHAT?
I was shocked when I saw the headline proclaiming that the disastrous “Fyre Festival” was trying to make a comeback!
Here is the story that broke last week:
That’s Billy McFarland, the original founder of the notorious disaster known as “Fyre Festival.”
As USA Today reported:
“Fyre Festival II is finally happening,” McFarland wrote in a tweet earlier this month. “Tell me why you should be invited.”
The RSVP list might be sparse: The entrepreneur acknowledged he defrauded investors of $26 million in the 2017 Fyre Festival and over $100,000 in a fraudulent ticket-selling scheme after his arrest in the scam.
That’s right, McFarland went to jail because of what happened – don’t worry, I’ll give you all the details – so the idea that he is trying to launch a new version is crazy!
As well as McFarland going to jail, a number of social media influencers were fined huge amounts of money for promoting the event without telling their followers they were being compensated for it – leading many to buy tickets and lose all their money….let’s dive into that debacle with this notorious photo from the original event:
The Cheese Sandwich Heard Around The World!
Yes, this Instagram photo summed up the debacle that was Fyre Fest, a disastrous attempt to create a music festival in the Bahamas – and an incredible Netflix documentary told the wild story about what happened!
Do you remember seeing these Social Media Influencers in the Bahamas, promoting the festival and the “must do” social event of the year? Well, it was all part of a grand plan – and the documentary breaks down the disaster that was Fyre Fest, and how it was created by these two:
Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule!
It is the story of new media excess, living large on investor’s money, and how social media influencers can be bought to promote something they didn’t know anything about!
Here you can see Bella Hadid as part of a social media campaign to promote the festival, and the film looks at how much these social media influencers were paid to promote something they knew nothing about!
After the debacle, other photos of the influencers began to surface, grafted on to scenes of the Fyre Fest disaster:
Many of the Instagram influencers and artists who helped promote Fyre Festival were forced to disclose information about payments they received from organizer Billy McFarland.
Billy McFarland was the mastermind behind the ill-fated festival, and the documentary digs into the scandal surrounding his company, staff, and the unrealistic vision to create a new music festival – one that was designed to appeal to young Millennials who were enticed to pay thousands and thousands of dollars up front to secure tickets and lodging at this upscale, hipster oasis…
So, who would buy tickets to another version of it?
Here is the trailer for the Netflix documentary “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”:
Well, talk about a disaster! When thousands of festival goers arrived on this Bahamas island, they expected to find luxury accommodations, exotic food, Yachts and Blink-182! But they didn’t find luxury and music – they got this:
This was the “Cheese sandwich” heard round the world – when an unlucky attendee posted the “food” they were given to eat, it exploded across the internet, and the documentary shows just how bad things were for the thousands who showed up. And was it really that bad? It was!
Here are the deluxe accommodations: and what makes this documentary so compelling is that they has TONS of footage from stranded attendees showing how nightmarish it was!
In the aftermath, the Daily Mail posted this about how so many people were heavily influenced by those social media posts:
“Among them are Jenner, Hadid, Hailey Bieber, Emily Ratajkowski and other beautiful people who frolicked in the crystal-clear blue waters of the Caribbean in a promotional video that induced serious ‘fear of missing out’ among social media enthusiasts and drove thousands to purchase tickets for the event spanning two decadent weekends in spring 2017.
Nearly two years later, the subpoenas are part of an investigation into what happened to the estimated $26million McFarland raised from investors and doled out in the weeks and months before Fyre Festival went up in [metaphorical] flames, leaving thousands of attendees and workers broke and abandoned, investors swindled out of millions and, ultimately, landing McFarland behind bars.”
The Netflix documentary includes a lot of great interviews with Fyre Media staff, who saw the disaster unfolding but were powerless to stop it…a very sobering look at the power of influencers – and so called “visionaries” in this social media age…
There have been some incredible documentaries in the past few years dealing with subjects like this:
“Sour Grapes” Indeed!
This outstanding documentary look at how Rudy Kurniawan helped rich people buy expensive wine – that was all fake!
Click here to see the trailer for this terrific film:
Here’s another “real life is stranger than fiction” sorry:
Did you know that McDonald’s had one of their “scratch and win” games defrauded? It’s a wild story and it’s true – click here to see the trailer and more!
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johnrieber 
Oh, no! That cheese sandwich speaks volumes.
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I hope nobody buys any tickets. Scammers are everywhere these days.
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It will really demonstrate who easily manipulated and gullible people are if this festival goes ahead again. I remember this post of yours.
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Crazy—I never heard about the first debacle, but now I will find the documentary. I’m unclear whether McFarland is still in jail and is organizing the new one somehow on the inside. The old saying fool me once . . . comes to mind.
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He served his time and is out trying to organize again
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All I can say is that if anyone is stupid enough to buy a ticket to another scam festival, then they deserve everything they get. Including another one of those cheese sandwiches! 🙂
It all goes to show that some people have too much money, and not enough sense.
Best wishes, Pete.
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You nailed it Pete! The documentary is fascinating because many of those who tried to plan it around that guy were interviewed and the stories are unbelievable! Like standing underneath an avalanche and watching it happen!
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Insane that it can return- I remember the whole scam/debacle
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Right? Thanks for commenting, always great to hear from you!
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