The organiser of the doomed Fyre Festival says he wants another shot at making his music festival dreams a reality.
Billy McFarland, the Fyre Festival organiser who was jailed for defrauding investors, says a Fyre Fest II is “finally happening”.
This time around though, it seems like McFarland wants the endeavour to help him pay back the millions he owes from the first doomed effort.
McFarland’s announcement came on Twitter when he asked people why they should be “invited”.
“Tell me why you shouldn’t be in jail,” one person said, in response to him.
“It’s in the best interest of those I owe for me to be working. People aren’t getting paid back if I sit on the couch and watch TV,” McFarland said.
“And because I served my time.”
Tweet from @pyrtbilly
McFarland was released from prison in 2022 after serving four years of his six-year sentence.
In 2018, he admitted to defrauding $US26 million ($38 million) from investors and thousands more in a fraudulent ticket-selling scheme after his arrest.
Fyre Festival promised to be two weekends of music, art, food and adventure on a remote island in the Bahamas, with celebrities in attendance. In reality, it was a disaster.
People paid thousands to attend, only to arrive on the island to find there were no music acts, their luxury accommodation was anything but, and the “gourmet food” was just packaged food.
The only detail about Fyre Fest II is that it is “finally happening”.
However, in response to Mr McFarland asking people to tell him why they should be invited, one person promised to bring 100 crates of bananas to feed attendees, and someone else said they could DJ.
McFarland’s other projects
McFarland announced his new project, PYRT, last year, and said it was not a festival or the metaverse, but “VID/R”.
“The virtual, immersive, decentralised reality,” he said in a video shared last year.
“So what the VID/R is, is a technology that brings together and connects people from around the world, both virtually and physically. Then, once they’re together it allows people to actually effect real world change.”
It’s unclear what actually came out of PYRT, though he claimed it would be completely different to Fyre Festival, NBC News reported in January.
McFarland is promoting one-on-one consulting, which according to The New York Post is provided through PYRT and it costs some $2600 for one hour.
He remains pretty active on Twitter, somewhat embracing his past crimes and claiming it is because of them that he understands what consequences are.
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
— Billy McFarland (@pyrtbilly) April 3, 2023
He has also promised 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 said.
McFarland said he splits his time between filming TV shows and focusing on what he is “really good at”.
He said he is best at “coming up with wild creative, getting talent together, and delivering the moment”.
