Billy McFarland: ‘Fyre Festival II is happening’

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland has claimed a sequel to the notorious event is in the works.

Fans paid between $1,500 and $50,000 to attend the inaugural 2017 festival on the island of Grand Exuma in the Bahamas, with the promise of luxury accommodation, gourmet food and music, only for the event to spectacularly collapse on its first day, as ticket-holders arrived to find half-built tents, insufficient food and a dearth of performers.

McFarland was jailed in 2018 and fined US$26 million for his role in the debacle, pleading guilty to defrauding investors and running a fraudulent ticketing scam. However, the 31-year-old, who was released from prison last year, has taken to Twitter to announce the festival’s return.

“Fyre Festival II is finally happening. Tell me why you should be invited,” he posts.

“People aren’t getting paid back if I sit on the couch and watch TV”

The disgraced entrepreneur previously suggested his future was away from music as he attempted to raise the US$26m he owes to the investors he defrauded. But he now says: “It’s in the best interest of those I owe for me to be working.”

Adding that he has “served his time”, he tweets: “People aren’t getting paid back if I sit on the couch and watch TV.”

Fyre Festival was immortalised in two documentaries, Hulu’s Fyre Fraud and Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened, which delved into what went on behind the scenes.

It was revealed last November that McFarland is to star in new documentary After the Fyre, a partnership between content creator Fremantle and production house AMPLE Entertainment. After the Fyre will accompany McFarland as he re-emerges in the outside world and returns to the Bahamas to launch a treasure hunt called PYRT, after serving four years of his six-year prison sentence.

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