Billy McFarland, the convicted fraudster behind 2017’s notorious Fyre Pageant, says followers are already snapping up tickets—starting from $400 to $1.1 million—for the occasion’s second version.
Regardless of the unique competition’s catastrophic failure, which spawned two documentaries and landed its founder in jail, McFarland has revealed that he hopes to assemble 3,000 folks for Fyre Fest II.
The 32-year-old disgraced founder revealed yesterday the place and when the competition shall be going down throughout his social media channels—and already, he says, over 1,200 folks have utilized for tickets.
10 hours in: 1,208 distinctive functions for over 5,000 tickets. fyre 2 will solely maintain 3,000 folks
— Billy McFarland (@pyrtbilly) September 9, 2024
Scheduled to run from April 25 to April 28 subsequent yr, Fyre Pageant II will happen on a privately owned island off the coast of Mexico—and regardless of solely being seven months away, the competition has not but booked any artists.
Nonetheless, in an interview with NBC Information, McFarland insisted that Fyre Pageant’s sequel received’t be a repeat of its first act.
For starters, this time round, he claimed that he has employed a competition manufacturing firm to “deal with the phases and the bogs and all of the stuff that I clearly don’t know the way to do.”
McFarland didn’t identify the manufacturing firm, however in a separate interview with the Wall Avenue Journal, he stated that it has purchased a 51% stake within the Fyre Pageant’s guardian firm, Fyre Media.
Plus, in an interview with The Immediately Present he insisted that Fyre Pageant II is “not going to be simply music”.
For instance, for $1.1 million he stated that followers can spend their time scuba diving with him whereas “bouncing round to different islands”.
One other exercise thought McFarland has for the competition is reside fights on the seaside. Though he hasn’t booked any entertainers but, he claimed that he’s in talks with Karate Fight to set this up.
Fortune has contacted McFarland for remark.
The notorious Fyre Pageant fiasco
The unique Fyre Pageant was pitched as a “luxurious musical competition” on Pablo Escobar’s former personal island within the Bahamas and was backed by celebrities together with Emily Ratajkowski, Kendall Jenner, and Bella Hadid.
Tickets ranged from $500 to $12,000, and the occasion promised luxurious villas, chef-made meals, and a stellar lineup together with Pusha T, Blink-182, Main Lazer, Disclosure, and a few 30 different artists.
In actuality, the competition was set in a parking zone, with not one of the celebrities talked about in sight; in the meantime, company have been welcomed with tents, prepackaged sandwiches, and unsanitary circumstances that included no working water.
To make issues worse, there weren’t sufficient beds to go round, baggage had been “misplaced”, there was no cellphone sign and festivalgoers have been compelled to fend for themselves.
The catastrophic realities of Fyre resulted in documentaries on Hulu and Netflix, class motion lawsuits, and jail time for McFarland in 2017.
He was ordered to pay again the $26 million he took from his buyers and spent 4 years behind bars earlier than he was launched on probation in 2022.
“I used to be completely responsible. I dedicated against the law. Clearly went to jail, and I deserved that jail sentence,” McFarland instructed NBC Information.
“However it wasn’t till the day after the competition was canceled and I had considered one of my early buyers name me and principally say, ‘We have to do that, this and this, or else you’re going to be within the entrance web page of The Wall Avenue Journal in handcuffs.’”
McFarland’s second act ‘has to work’
The large failure of McFarland’s earlier—and borderline harmful—competition try might clarify why so many individuals are fascinated with spherical two.
In August 2023, the primary drop of $499 presale tickets for Fyre Fest II bought out inside a day, despite the fact that its web site on the time supplied no lineup or location.
“I feel there’s a lot of individuals who wish to go to Fyre II as a result of they’re not sure of the end result, and so they wish to have a front-row seat it doesn’t matter what occurs,” McFarland instructed NBC Information.
“Fortunately, we’ve got good companions who will be certain they’re protected and clearly be certain issues work out.”
Nonetheless, McFarland is aware of that his second go on the infamously botched music competition “has to work”—or his repute dangers being additional broken.
“It’s going to be very onerous to get different alternatives, whether or not that’s a advertising job, a podcast look, a TV present or a relationship,” McFarland instructed WSJ.
“Persons are going to be hard-pressed to belief me if I put all of it on the road and fail at it twice.”
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