Six years after the controversial Fyre Fest fell apart before it even started, festival founder Billy McFarland is promising that Fyre Fest 2 is happening. According to Variety, McFarland recently tweeted, “Fyre Festival II is finally happening,” alongside a fire emoji. He then added, “Tell me why you should be invited.” No other details have been provided.
Earlier this month, McFarland took to social media to tease plans that seem to have turned out to be a second Fyre Fest, even though the first one never technically took place. “I was one of the most Googled people in the world. What’s next will be the biggest comeback of all time. My plan: get some wins under my belt; rebuild trust, and build an audience so I can build the next media empire.” He tweeted. “After 309 days locked in a 9 x 7 concrete box: books taken away; mail held; no phone calls, & 6 years on the sideline – there are few who understand the same level of consequence and failure, and absolutely no one who wants it badder.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Fyre Festival was pitched as a major music event in the Bahamas, which would have featured artists such as Blink-182 and Migos. Models and social media influencers, such as Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid even promoted it. Still, when concert-goers arrived, after having spent thousands of dollars on the trip, they found all the event had to offer tents and cheese sandwiches.
McFarland was his with fraud charges over the Fyre fiasco, and in 2018 he pleaded guilty to defrauding investors. He also issued a formal apology. During The Con: Fyre Festival, McFarland again confessed to his actions, saying, “I knowingly lied to them to raise money for the festival, yes.” The disgraced promoter also provided details on just how he was able to pull off his scheme.
“What I did was inflate our company’s numbers. How much money we had, how much money we were making, in order to raise overall money,” he explained. “I tried to justify to myself, well, you know, everybody has access to my bank account; they all know what’s going on. And so, just give us more money. We’re going to make this happen; we all know what’s happening. But in reality, everybody didn’t understand, you know, what was going on in my head.” McFarland was jailed in 2018 but released in 2022, serving just four years of a six-year sentence.
