Billy McFarland
Theo Wargo/Getty Photographs
The lengthy, pathetic, sordid, felony saga of Billy McFarland and the Fyre Pageant got here to an ignominious finish Tuesday afternoon at exactly 12:44:11 pm EST when the convicted fraudster unloaded the model and all logos associated to the ill-fated musical competition on eBay for $245,300.
McFarland nonetheless owes $26 million in restitution associated to his wire fraud conviction, so he’s going to must maintain scrounging round to lift the remaining $25,754,700.
For these of you with no reminiscence of 2017 and in some way missed Hulu’s Fyre Fraud and Netflix’s Fyre: The Best Occasion That By no means Occurred, the Fyre Pageant was marketed as a luxurious musical competition on an island within the Bahamas with lineup that included Blink-182, Pusha T, Tyga, Desiigner, Main Lazer, Disclosure, and Migos.
However when followers arrived on the competition website, they have been greeted with little greater than dinky tents, grounds that resembled a refugee camp, and cheese sandwiches. It turned out that McFarland and his buyers, together with rapper Ja Rule, didn’t have the cash, means, or expertise to stage the occasion. A wave of lawsuits adopted, and McFarland was sentenced to 6 years in jail.
McFarland was launched in 2022 and instantly began to plan a second Fyre Pageant. “We’ve got the prospect to embrace this storm and actually steer our ship into all of the chaos that has occurred,” he told NBC. “And if it’s completed effectively, I believe Fyre has an opportunity to be this annual competition that basically takes over the competition trade.”
Unsurprisingly, McFarland had completely no means to ship on that promise. This time round, nonetheless, the plug was pulled lengthy earlier than any friends arrived. Within the aftermath, he determined to chop his losses and eternally half methods with the model.
“This model is larger than anybody particular person,” Mr. McFarland stated in a press release on Instagram. “It’s clear that I have to step again and permit a brand new crew to maneuver ahead independently.”
It’s unclear who purchased it, however they now personal the Fyre Pageant model identify, the social media accounts, “complete advertising property,” the domains, “artist & expertise relationships,” an “in depth media protection archive,” and “entry to the core crew (non-obligatory).”
This poses a number of questions. First off, how precisely can “artist and expertise relationships” be bought? And weren’t these relationships eternally poisoned by the historic debacles of the previous? It’s laborious to think about that Blink-182’s crew sees this as a strong relationship. They received’t precisely be like, “A random particular person purchased the Fyre Pageant. We’re obligated by the phrases of an Ebay itemizing to work with them on their subsequent endeavor, regardless that we have been humiliated and stiffed out of cash eight years in the past by the unique crew.”
Secondly, it’s good to see that entry to McFarland and Ja Rule is non-obligatory, however is that basically a promoting level? They haven’t confirmed themselves very adept at placing on this specific competition. Somebody goes to offer them a 3rd try with their very own cash on the road?
Lastly, what precisely is that this media archive? Is it linked to on-line articles documenting the collapse of the competition, the lawsuits that adopted, and the pathetic try to stage a second one? Did they make a scrapbook of the print articles? These are property?
As we await solutions, it’s good to know that the Fyre Pageant dream isn’t useless. It’s now within the fingers of any individual else with $245,300 to spare. We look ahead to seeing what they do with it.
From Rolling Stone US.