Ja Rule has distanced himself from a follow-up to Fyre Festival, after Billy McFarland, the creator behind the disastrous event, teased its possible return.
In 2017, McFarland was at the centre of a scandal in which ticket holders were lured to a “luxury music festival” held on Pablo Escobar’s former private island in the Bahamas, with Migos and Blink-182 booked to perform.
The event, which Rule co-founded, was a catastrophe. “Deluxe housing” actually turned out to be disaster-relief tents, and attendees were served soggy cheese sandwiches. Many of the musical acts didn’t turn up, and ticketholders were left stranded on the island.
In 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, was sentenced to six years in prison – but was released early in March 2022 – and ordered to pay back £23m to festival investors. The entire scandal around the festival was the subject of two documentaries, including one by Netflix.
On 10 April, McFarland tweeted: “Fyre Festival II is finally happening. Tell me why you should be invited.”
Reacting to McFarland’s claims that it’s coming back, Rule told People: “I don’t know nothing about it! I don’t know nothing about it. I ain’t in it!”
In response to those comments, McFarland tweeted: “Lol. Definitely not invited.”
Shortly after the documentaries about Fyre came out, Rule responded on Twitter in January 2019, writing: “I had an amazing vision to create a festival like NO OTHER!!! I would NEVER SCAM or FRAUD anyone what sense does that make???”
“I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead [sic] astray!!!” he added in another tweet.
