The major investor in the notorious Fyre Festival has said that he sees “a lot of red flags” about the planned return of the event.
Andy King lost $1 million in the first Fyre back in 2017 and in an interview with the BBC has suggested that anyone thinking of attending the proposed Fyre II in April of next year should “proceed with caution.”
The man behind Fyre, Billy McFarland was only recently released from a four-year stretch in prison for the 2017 event. King said that McFarland was "known for the biggest failure in pop culture and wants to flip the script. But I'm not sure he's going about it the right way."
King (below) said he’d met McFarland a few months to discuss a potential Fyre II but in his eyes his ex-business partner hadn’t changed. “(He hadn’t) learned a lot in prison... he's shooting from the hip again".
"Billy has a gift. He's got a lot of charisma. He knows how to pull people in. Think about it: when he was 24, he walked into investment banking firms in New York and got them to invest $29 million."
“I'm just seeing a lot of red flags, and a lot of red lights. And I feel bad. It saddens me", he said before revealing what had happened when he met up with McFarland once more. "We were going to rent one of the biggest estates in the Hamptons and have a big, swanky party. We ended up having 30 people at a pizza place along the Montauk highway."
The original Fyre festival became notorious largely through the Netflix documentary, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. Fyre had been sold as the ultimate luxury fest – McFarland inveigled micro-celebrities and ‘influencers’ to big it up on social media.
Festival goers were promised luxury villas, gourmet food and appearances by Major Lazer, Blink 182 and Pusha T at an exclusive resort in the Bahamas. But all the artists canceled and what greeted them when they arrived was a storm-ravaged island, bare mattresses to sleep on in tents and cheese sandwiches to eat.
It was hilarious to watch at home, less funny if you were caught up in it.
King not only lost $1 million in the debacle but in the doc will be forever remembered for the moment McFarland urged him to offer oral sex to the Bahamian customs official to secure bottled water for the event. King went through with it. At least punters didn’t die of thirst.
McFarland has said that Fyre II will take place from April 25 – 28 next year and incredibly all the early bird tickets have already gone, despite the fact that it still has no lineup or confirmed venue.
