Billy McFarland Biography

Advertising worked: By April, most of the tickets were sold out. A large construction instead of a heavenly place, however, by the time of the announcement, the McFarland project was already faced with serious problems. According to many organizers who spoke about the difficulties of Vice, by winter, they already knew that the festival might not take place. But they continued to work, hoping for good luck.

As a result, the organizers did not have enough money for the most necessary people for life: for example, to provide those who come to the toilets and souls. Here the problem of the poor infrastructure of the island made itself felt, about which Billy and Ja Rule decided not to worry. They could not bring their equipment: they did not even have the necessary equipment to unload their things from the ship to the shore.

Difficulties with logistics could not solve all winter, although by this time most of the tickets on Fyre Festival had already been bought. She later told details about the level of his organization. According to her, even then it was clear that if you did not transfer the festival, then it would turn into a complete catastrophe. I was excited. During the flight, the water looked wonderful-however, I was forbidden to approach it from due to sharks.

When we landed, I immediately went to evaluate our assets. And my first reaction was: “Hmm”. Chloe Gordon, the organizer of the festival instead of a heavenly place, Gordon saw a construction site with a bunch of gravel and tractors. At the same time, it was evident that the places would not be enough for the required number of tents: the creators of the project by this time had already abandoned wooden VIP-number.

Chloe was supposed to be directly engaged in concerts, but she was given a team of “11 newcomers” who did not have experience at the festival. At the same time, all employees in a conversation with her constantly asked: “Do you not know where our money is? However, Ja Rule at the meeting called on employees not to complain, but "just do it and become legends." In March, McFarland's money ended in the festival, although he initially received investments and sponsorship contracts.

At a meeting with one of the potential investors in New York, he hinted that he spent several million dollars on advertising the event with the help of models. According to Vice, only one post Kendall Jenner could cost the organizer in thousands of dollars. Another eight million was to ensure that the exuma authorities "encourage Fyre Festival." According to Billy, now he needed money to "pay suppliers, employees and musicians." At some point, the organizers lost their site: its creators never received money for work.

Already in April, they turned to one company to establish portable toilet cabins, but received the answer: "The money of the whole world will not help you spend them through customs on time, it will take many weeks." Even if Billy and Ja Rule could agree with the customs service, they would have to pay more than a million dollars for installing equipment. There were less than a month to the festival.

The elite with mattresses and sandwiches on April 27, the day before the start of the festival, the Blink group announced that she would not speak in the Bagams. The musicians explained their decision by the fact that they were not sure of the “quality of speech” because of the problems with the necessary equipment. By this time, the festival’s guests had already begun to complain in social networks that they could not fly to the exum from Miami.

By night, most of the US flights were simply canceled. Those who managed to get to Fyre Festival were even less fortunate: they found an island with unfinished buildings and tents instead of luxurious numbers for rich youth. There were no beds in them. Users compared the festival village with refugees camps. Also at the music festival there was not a single musician.

Instead of “food from the best cooks of the world”, the festival participants received sandwiches and dishes in containers from local residents. Later it turned out that the famous cook Stephen Starr did not pay, but the guests were not warned about it. Hundreds of people tried to leave the island, but they were dropped out of the plane and "kept in the stuffy room almost all night." By this time, the creators of Fyre Festival have already recognized their defeat and sent a letter to the guests about the abolition of the event.

The organizers in the official message said they were confident in their readiness, but then the arrival of the guests turned into a disaster for them. The event’s website noted that all participants will be shared by money for tickets. Ja Rule on his Twitter emphasized that the festival was “not infected”, and the rapper itself is not to blame for anything. McFarland noted that they were “a little naive” when they believed that they could turn the island with poor infrastructure into a site for the “elite” festival.

At the same time, the entrepreneur complained about bad weather on the day of the guests. On the day of the festival, Storm tore off half of our tents. The guests began to come, and the most necessary actions that we were not worried about in the USA, we could not do. We were in a hurry. And we just did not have enough foresight to solve these problems.Billy McFarland, the organizer of the festival apologized to his Bahamas tourism, while accusing the festival organizers of disrupting an important event.

According to the official, in the Excum area there is a good infrastructure, and Billy and Jah Rula simply could not use it. The New York Post noted that there were people who liked the event. They turned out to be rich yacht owners: they did not live in tents, but at the same time took free food, which they distributed to the guests. True, they had to get to the shore in lifeboats. However, most of the stars did not visit the festival: their agents warned in advance about problems on the island.

Ja Rule, who created Fyre Festival, did not arrive. In a year, it would be better already on May 1 at Billy and Ja Rule sued. They were accused of "lack of necessary food, water, housing and medical care." The statement notes that the guests flew out of Miami and “suddenly found themselves on a uninhabited island” instead of the music festival. Part of the models and stars of Instagram involved in the campaign in Bahamas did not mark their publications as “sponsorship”, which violates the rules of the US Federal Trade Commission.

According to lawyers, the organizers deceived the guests, showing them a heavenly place where they could meet and chat with famous girls. Some models apologized for their participation in advertising: Kendall Jenner deleted the message praising the festival, Bella Hadid apologized to Twitter, and the Amanda Riley model even wrote a column on The Hollywood Reporter, saying that her participation was a mistake.

At the same time, McFarland is already making plans for a year-instead of returning money, they are offered to exchange them for VIP-imprisonment instead of a return, with which it will be possible to visit the Fyre Festival next spring.