Remember Fyre Festival? The “dumpster fire” of a luxury weekend getaway, filled with many an opulent and unachievable promise, resulted in six lawsuits, was compared to The Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies, and had the internet cackling.
Well, it’s back for round two, if you can believe it.
Billy McFarland, the co-organizer of the now-ridiculed 2017 disaster of an event, announced that tickets are on sale for Fyre Festival II, supposedly set to take place at the end of 2024. McFarland spent four years behind bars on multiple counts of fraud after the festival, located on on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, was deemed a scam, with McFarland duping investors and customers out of $26 million.
But if Netflix and Hulu’s documentaries on the highly publicised debacle were any indication, McFarland was always gearing up for the next big scam party.
McFarland — whose Wikipedia page literally reads “fraudster” — was released early from prison in 2022 and said that his time “in solitary confinement” led to a fresh set of ideas for Fyre Festival’s second go.
“It’s been the absolute wildest journey to get here, and it really all started during a seven-month stint in solitary confinement,” he says in a YouTube video, donning a white robe and AirPods, adding that he put together a 50-page document to create Fyre once again.
“Guys, this is your chance to get in. This is everything I’ve been working towards,” says McFarland. “Let’s fucking go.” (…..)
On the official website, tickets are currently priced at $499, with other packages and “VIP Passes” coming soon that range from $799 to $7,999. A date is set for Dec. 6, 2024 but is “subject to change”. The location for the event simply reads “The Caribbean”.
Everything else about the event is just as vague as the first time around — except for the lineup, which is currently nonexistent. It’s unclear whether McFarland’s co-organizer, rapper Ja Rule, is involved in the sequel.
Personally, we’ll never forget what happened last time…
