BAHAMAS (CelebrityAccess) – Six years ago, he was just a man with a dream – as William (Billy) McFarland founded Fyre Media, the developer of the Fyre mobile app for booking music talent and, alongside rapper Ja Rule, co-founded the Fyre Festival—a music festival specializing in the “luxury” of it all.
The “luxury” Fyre Festival planned for two weeks on a private Bahamas Beach was a fraud. On-site, festivalgoers encountered understaffing, issues with security, insufficient food, water shortages and sub-par accommodations.
McFarland and Ja Rule were sued for $100 million in a class-action lawsuit brought on by the festival attendees. McFarland was later arrested and charged with wire fraud in Manhattan Federal Court for his role in the festival’s organization. The entire disaster later became the focus of a Netflix documentary, and McFarland spent four years in prison for defrauding investors and ticket buyers out of more than 26 million dollars.
McFarland was released from prison in March 2022 after serving four years of a six-year sentence and began the chatter of resurrecting the doomed first festival – Fyre Festival 2. Despite its tarnished reputation, the festival’s website stated that all 100 pre-sale tickets for Fyre Festival 2 have sold out.
Interestingly enough (or not so interesting) is that the sales happened without an announced lineup or location. The tickets were priced at $499, with additional tiers to be disclosed soon. NPR.org reports the event is in response to what McFarland said was “interest and demand” in his ability to “bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen.”
NME reports that McFarland tried to rally support from founders of prominent global festivals on Instagram (IG) to resurrect Fyre Festival for a second iteration, but his appeals essentially went unanswered.
On Tuesday (August 22), McFarland posted on social media, “It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here, and it really all started during a seven-month stint in solitary confinement.”
