The distance between expected value and reality makes fools of us all , but it made the well - heeled meeter of an exclusive music festival in the Bahamas look particularly moronic late Thursday Nox . For tickets that started at $ 1,200 and went as mellow as $ 250,000 , the young and copious contract up for passage to the doomed Fyre Festival , hyped for months by its co - laminitis , rapper turnedaspiring mojito mogulJa Rule .
attendant were promised three days of luxury and performances by Blink-182 , Desiigner , and Rae Sremmurd . forwarding for the festival found in December , witha glamorous Instagram videoof supermodel yachting and sip bubbly on a sensational coastal island . Here ’s what just the ticket holders got instead :
So Fyre Fest is a concluded disaster . Mass chaos . No organization . No one screw where to go . There are no Francisco Villa , just a disaster tent city.pic.twitter.com/1lSWtnk7cA
— William Needham Finley IV ( @WNFIV)April 27 , 2017
Basically , these citizenry were sold a prix - fixe , ‘ Hans C. J. Gram - quick vacation for thou of dollar bill and showed up to a hastily assembled disaster zone with scant surety , food or trapping . On Friday , the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism went so far as toissue a statementdistancing itself from the result it qualify as “ total disorganization and chaos , ” saying Fyre ’s organiser “ did not have the capacity to execute an case of this scale of measurement . ” Headliners Blink-182 were among several artists that publicly pulled out after word of the debacle spread , but The Wall Street Journal report weeks ago that the festival ’s organizers werestruggling to paytheir top performer . Across the board , it seems like no one ’s expectations were meet .
Expectation : ( pencil - drawn ? ) luxury accommodations . Reality : disaster - backup man tent .
https://twitter.com/embed/status/857828241234460672
Just a monitor of what " The duet " was to begin with sell aspic.twitter.com/gKz90zNBvu
— Michele Smith ( @MicheleSmi)April 27 , 2017
Expectation : gourmet offer of culinary brilliance . Reality : cheeseflower sandwiches .
Here ’s the dinner they feed us tonight . Literally slices of pelf , cheese , and salad with no dressing.#fyrefraud#fyrefestival#dumpsterfyrepic.twitter.com / NmNXakSFlq
— Tr3vor ( @tr3vorx)April 28 , 2017
Expectation : five - star service . Reality : Jersey Shore extras dumping your Louis Vuitton from a shipping container into the sand .
This is how Fyre Fest handles baggage . Just strike down it out of a transportation container . At night . With no lights.#fyrefestivalpic.twitter.com / X5CdZRyJWo
— William Needham Finley IV ( @WNFIV)April 28 , 2017
As of Friday morning , all flights into Great Exumahad been offset , and Fyre ’s Instagram story announced that it was offer full refunds due the fete ’s “ unexpected outset . ” But for those on the island , it was a dodgy process .
UPDATE : they are having us sign newspaper for full repayment . They are just pieces of computer composition but I mean…refundspic.twitter.com/oNa8EIojl1
— sunday ( @ur_first_kiss)April 28 , 2017
attendee reportedbeing strandedon the tarmacadam for hours , waiting on “ deliverance flight ” back into the US . One attendee allegedly sat on the rail for so long they wereforced to deplane and boarda unlike flight . Others said theyweren’t being permittedto leave the aerodrome , with officialschaining the exitdoors . Reportedly , the US Embassy is eveninvolved in an excreting .
Getting back on the plane to go to Miami . Maybe . Who knows . I have major trust issues at this point.#fyrefestivalpic.twitter.com / m549gSb1H9
But there might be more to this story than a bunch of dumb plentiful tiddler allegedly bunco out of 1000 by a doorknocker who has n’t had a top 20 album since 2004 .
Ja Rule launched Fyre in 2015 with then-23 - year - old technical school entrepreneur Billy McFarland . McFarland ’s most illustrious previous venture was theMagnises Black Card , which , despite the name , is not a course credit bill . Instead , customers ante up $ 250 a year for an array of comically pointless perquisite and a wit that is n’t linked to any fiscal instauration . From Inc :
Magnises charges its members $ 250 a year to go to undivided events , lead meetings in its individual spaces , and use its “ digital concierge ” mobile app . The app get extremity send text content requests for things like restaurant recommendations and uses an algorithm , found on their submit preferences , to pit citizenry with blank space they ’ll savour .
Essentially , it ’s a fake “ black card ” that does nothing but slightly assuage the psychotic demand of the unseasoned and plenteous to ware more and more , charging people $ 250 for 8 cent in plastic and a few Sam ’s Clubs perks . Despite the identity card ’s questionable utility , McFarland hasreportedly raisedalmost $ 3 million in venture capital letter for Magnises .
With the pitch-black carte from nowhere and the holiday to hell , McFarland has apparently applied the tech world ’s “ move fast and break in thing ” mantra to millennial narcissism . But while the mark of McFarland hustle makes it fun to read about , its vile , rudimentary ethos does n’t just apply to useless , luxury shit .
Here ’s the live take : We ’re all Fyre Festival attendee . Silicon Valley routinely sell us on the late , futurist “ discovery ” and ultimately gives us a soggy Malva sylvestris sandwich and a waylaid summer camp collapsible shelter . The promise of hokey intelligence has been delivered asa talking mirror . The promise of police body cameras has been delivered astotal surveillance . And the hope of ego - driving gondola has been delivered as an SUVblowing through a Red River lightthat no one , plain , is responsible for .
In a globe fill with overhyped nonsense , Fyre pop the question some easily appreciated schadenfreude . But once the laughter ’s over , it ’s deserving asking how far the con really goes .
Update : 2024-12-02 3:30pm EST : Ja Rule twirp a heartfelt and selectively all - cap apology , take down that the festival definitely “ NOT A cozenage ” and , of course , “ NOT MY FAULT . ”
pic.twitter.com/KuJYxfsQJ4
— Ja Rule ( @jarule)April 28 , 2017
Interestingly , Ja ’s location is turn off , raising the question of where precisely he was as the chaos on the island unfolded . Did he ever make it to the island ? We reached out and will update if we hear back .
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