How much would you pay to get in on the viral disaster that was Fyre Festival? Would you pay $500? How about $8,000 if we throw in a few cheese sandwiches and a promise from convicted fraudster Billy McFarland that this time it's going to be good?
The infamously disastrous musical festival is coming back, according to the guy who went to prison for it last time, and you can get in on the ground floor of this thing by paying more than you might pay for tickets to see Taylor Swift.
And no, there's no guarantee that Taylor Swift will be there. Or Beyonce. Or Drake. In fact, no artists have attached their name to the festival at this point, so you'll just have to trust McFarland that this time it'll work, OK?
"This time we have incredible support," he wrote in a tweet earlier this week. "I’ll be doing what I love while working with the best logistical and infrastructure partners. In addition, all ticket sale revenue will be held in escrow until the final date is announced. We look forward to surprising the world alongside our partners as we build FYRE and FYRE Festival II into the island adventure of a lifetime."
If "Fyre Fest" rings a bell for you, it's probably because it's known as the biggest music festival flop of the social media age. McFarland, Ja Rule and their pals promised a super-lux music festival in the Bahamas back in 2017 and even hired supermodels like Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid to help them hype it up beforehand.
However, the whole thing turned out to be a poorly-organized and extremely expensive mess, and those who did show up ended up with more of a Survivor meets Lord Of The Flies-style experience.
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The fiasco led to a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against McFarland and his team.
McFarland also pleaded guilty to defrauding investors of over $26 million in the case and was sentenced to six years in prison in 2018, although he was released in 2022. He's still required to pay back all that money, which might explain why ticket prices are so high for Fyre Fest 2.
McFarland claimed on Twitter/X Tuesday that he's already "sold out" the first round of tickets for Fyre Festival 2, which is "happening," according to the website.
The Fyre Festival 2 website says the event will happen on Friday, December 6, 2024 in "The Caribbean," although no exact location or guests have been announced. The site also lists the location as "The Caribbean Sea," so it's possible this whole thing could happen on a yacht instead of an island.
The site also shows that McFarland is releasing blocks of tickets at increasingly expensive prices. If you take his word for it, the first 100 tickets sold out in less than a day for $499 each, and the price will only be going up. The next round of tickets will cost $799, then $1,199, and on and on until the final round of tickets, which will be priced at $7,999.
No dates have been announced for the pre-sale drops, although the site says it will only sell 777 tickets overall. You can also get a piece of Fyre Fest without putting thousands on the line by buying some of McFarland's merch, if that's your thing.
McFarland's site says the date is "subject to change" and that there will be a minimum of four pre-events and pop-ups before the big festival.
Even if you missed the harrowing tweets from the original Fyre Festival, chances are you're at least aware of the two documentaries about it; Hulu's Fyre Fraud and Netflix's Fyre.
The latter doc became a viral hit in its own right, thanks in part to a moment when the festival's executive producer, Andy King, admitted that he was prepared to perform oral sex on a customs official in order to get a shipment of bottled water for the event.
Six years later it seems all is forgiven, because King recently told the L.A. Times that he's coming back for Fyre Festival 2.
“I look forward to working with Billy and our partners to share Fyre with the world,” King told The Times. “I’m so grateful to have support to help us execute the ultimate redemption.”
King is one of the few people from last time who appear ready to go for another round.
Ja Rule has already said that he won't be caught anywhere near this version of the festival, after he ultimately dodged a $100-million lawsuit around the last one.
"I don't know nothing about it," Ja Rule told People earlier this year. "I ain't in it!"
McFarland hasn't released any model-backed promos for the event yet, although you probably shouldn't bet on Jenner, Bieber or Hadid making a comeback for Fyre Festival 2. The last one was bad news for them, and Jenner ultimately had to pay thousands of dollars in a settlement for promoting it.
As for McFarland, he says he spent some of his prison time dreaming up a 50-page plan to "bring people together" for another Fyre Festival.
"It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here and it really all started during a 7-month stint in solitary confinement," he said in a recent video.
"Guys, this is your chance to get in," he says in the video. "This is everything I've been working towards. Let's f*cking go."
McFarland claims to have sold 100 tickets from his first drop, although many social media followers were skeptical about that.
"We need proof that people actually bought tickets and they should be publicly shamed," wrote one X user in McFarland's replies.
Others just showed up for the cheese sandwich jokes.
"How many cheese sandwiches and fema tents can I get for a $1000 ticket?" asked one user.
"I genuinely don't know if people just don't/didn't learn or it's pure curiosity to see how badly this can go this time," wrote another critic.
Someone else expressed the sentiment that most of McFarland's doubters are probably sharing right now: "Can't wait for the next Netflix sequel on this."
Fyre Festival 2 Tickets Are On Sale & The Guy Who Went To Prison Says It's Real This Time
Source: News Article Viral
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