AP Some users paid as much as $12,000 for a Fyre Fest pass - only to be met with scenes like this one. So after he swindled investors and would-be revelers of more than $26 million, is anyone still looking to party with Billy McFarland? The disastrous Fyre Festival promised attendees a luxury experience but massively failed to deliver. In a 2021 jailhouse interview, the convicted fraudster blamed an “unrealistic time frame” for the spectacular failure that spawned several documentaries, including Netflix’s “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened.” The disgraced promoter was later sentenced to six years in prison and spent time at three federal lockups. McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in March 2018. McFarland organized the sham festival with rapper Ja Rule, who was not charged. The ex-con still owes more than $26.3 million in restitution. There were no performances, and the influencers knew enough to fly and sail home as soon as possible. In April 2017, thousands of people had paid as much as $12,000 each for the promise of mingling with influencers like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid - both paid to endorse the festival - and performances by acts including Pusha T and Blink-182, at McFarland’s Fyre Festival on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.īut the young, jet-setting crowd showed up to find disaster relief tents instead of decked-out villas and sad-looking sandwiches instead of the fancy meals they were promised. There might be quite a few takers on that proposition, considering McFarland has been one of the most hated men in America. “If they decide to chum the water where I’m swimming, the water will actually be chummed and the sharks will be happy.” McFarland’s new idea involves “virtual immersive decentralized reality.” Emmy Park for NY Post He also offered up a more gruesome example of how at-home “guests” could control the action. “It kind of gives you access to this really cool land and group of people.” “So, if you’re 18 years old and you’re on your computer in the middle of America, now you can actually come and not only watch what’s happening, but take part in changing it,” McFarland said. Emmy Park for NY Postįor instance, McFarland told The Post: “They could, like, buy the talent a drink and then have some drink service bringing to them at the same time the talent gets it. Billy McFarland, who served prison time over his failed Fyre Festival, is back with a new scheme that sounds even crazier than that debacle: Users will watch a party from their homes, and pay to determine what happens at the bash. McFarland, who turns 31 on Sunday, is making plans for what he calls “virtual immersive decentralized reality” events: exclusive parties - attended by influencers and entertainers - that would be broadcast to the “entire world.” Users on their couches at home could pay to “actually change” what’s happening at the party. Billy McFarland is ready for his second act - determined to sunset the notoriously failed Fyre Festival and prove he’s more than a convicted con artist.īut his new dream sounds even wilder than the one that landed him in prison for nearly four years.
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