When the promoter and fraudster condemned Billy McFarland sought to relaunch his famous Fyre festival this year, he wanted to do it “with honesty, transparency, incessant effort and creativity”.
Now, Fyre Festival 2 is indefinitely postponed (Shocker) and McFarland seeks to distance themselves from the event, putting the Fyre brand for sale. “This brand is larger than any person and bigger than I am able to direct myself,” said McFarland on Wednesday in a shared press release at the Fyre Festival website and Instagram page.
“It is a movement. And it deserves a team with the scale, experience and infrastructure to achieve its potential,” said McFarland. “We have decided that the best way to reach our goals is to sell the Fyre Festival brand … to an operator who can fully achieve his vision.
McFarland announced his decision to move away from Fyre two months after declaring FEBRUARY This “Fyre Festival 2 is real” and was to come to Isla Mujeres in the Mexican Caribbean from May 30 to June 2. At the time, he said he saw the Mexico event as a “second chance”.
The first iteration of McFarland Guess the festival In 2017, two weekends announced a luxury music event on a private island in Exuma, the Bahamas. Participants, some who paid more than $ 10,000 for tickets, rather met canceled shows, united cheese sandwiches and fragile tents that had trouble resisting stormy conditions at sloppy eventFounded by McFarland and rapper JA Rule. Fiasco quickly became viral and in the following years, inspired by Hulu and Netflix.
One year after the first Fyre festival, McFarland pleaded guilty in 2018 for having thrilled investors of $ 26 million in the event of an event and more than $ 100,000 in a fraudulent ticket sales program. Nicknamed a “serial fraudster” By a New York judge, McFarland was sentenced to six years in federal prison. He was released early and placed under house arrest in 2022.
Fyre 2 festival (not to be confused with the Other Fyre 2 festival This was announced and quickly abandoned in 2023) praised four tickets ranging from $ 1,400 to $ 1.1 million. The party's website also presented waves of “an electrifying celebration of music, arts, cooking, comedy, fashion, game, sports and treasure hunt”. Fyre Festival 2 has “unforgettable performances, immersive experiences”, but an artist's range has never been revealed. Pages detailing ticket sales and accommodation have since been cleaned on the website. The Instagram post announcing the return of the festival has also been deleted.
The Road to Fyre Festival 2 seemed turbulent before McFarland announced his search for a buyer. A week after the promoter has confidently unveiled his plans for Fyre Festival 2, the Isla Mujeres tourist council said that he had “no knowledge of this event”.
A spokesperson for the Tourism Commission declared that Tutor At the beginning of March, “for us, it is an event that does not exist.” Shortly after, McFarland disputed these complaints In an Instagram video since deleted, reassuring the subscribers that the event team had housing in place for festival -goers and “we have talent”. The Fyre Festival team, in a statement of ticket holders examined by the Times, said that it had been “blinded” by the claims of the officials of Isla Mujeres and rather chose to host the event in Mexico Playa del Carmen.
At the end of March, McFarland shared videos from a Press conference by the beach About the event features and a panel of partners and organizers of the Fyre Festival. On April 2, the Playa del Carmen government officials published a declaration in Spanish on Instagram With a familiar message.
“After an in -depth examination, there is no file or planning such an event in the municipality,” said the press release, according to NBC News.
In his opinion to ticket holders last week, the Fyre team said she had paid the necessary permits to move forward with the event in Playa del Carmen and accused the local flight government. “For this reason, we decided to move the Fyre 2 festival elsewhere.”
The third location has not yet been revealed – just like the new dates and artist range.
McFarland referred to the planning challenges on Wednesday and said that Fyre had since received the interest of “several Caribbean destinations wishing to welcome”. However, he said: “It is clear that I have to step back and allow a new team to advance independently, giving life to the vision on this incredible island.”
In his opinion, McFarland tried to call on potential buyers with arbitrary allegations that suddenly flowed from the reputation of the Fyre festival: “one of the most powerful engines in the world” and “one of the most discussed music festivals”. Earlier this week, the deadline reported That the festival will get another life as a streaming service after the documentary Shawn Rech has acquired an IP Fyre.
This week, the event website has been transformed into a site focused on the brand's sale instead of tickets. The metrics touting the supposed influence of the brand's media and social media are now in place of dynamic slides detailing the advantages of each level of billet. The website also offers a form where potential buyers can name their price.
“Giving the brand control to a new group is the most responsible way to follow what we have decided to do: build a world entertainment brand, organize a safe and legendary event and continue to pay a restitution to those due to the first festival,” said McFarland.
He concluded his letter: “The next chapter of Fyre will be greater, better and built to last without me at the helm.”
Where the Fyre Festival 2 goes from here remains to be seen. A silver lining to these last developments, however, is that McFarland announced its intention to move away before the faithful festival -goers descend on a destination still to be determined for a host of viely Vibey activities and a possible tropical nightmare with a side of sad cheese sandwiches.
