Leaked emails reveal disastrous Fyre festival was planned on the cheap
Leaked emails have revealed that Fyre Festival organisers were keen to cut facilities and were aware there was insufficient accommodation ahead of the chaotic event in the Bahamas in April.
Ja Rule and tech entrepreneur Bill McFarland came up with the idea to put on a supposedly luxury festival on Great Exuma island, but it was swiftly labelled ‘Rich Kids of Instagram meets Lord of the Flies’, after it descended into mayhem.
Punters paid up to £10k expecting to see Skepta and Blink 182 perform and it was billed as a ‘cultural moment created from an alchemic blend of music, art, and food’ on their website – which is no longer live.
The festival was due to run over two weekends but attendees were left stranded after they arrived at a half complete site that was subsequently compared to a ‘disaster relief zone’.
Now, website MIC reports that one week ahead of the festival, consultant Marc Weinstein wrote in an email that there would not be enough accommodation to house an estimated 593 attendees, staff and vendors, in an email that included the subject line ***DO NOT IGNORE*** HOUSING UPDATE & ACTION ITEMS FOR YOU.
The dinner that @fyrefestival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fyrefestival pic.twitter.com/I8d0UlSNbd
— Trevor DeHaas (@trev4president) April 28, 2017
What’s more, they were willing to cut toilet facilities in half to save money.
Fyre Media president Conall Arora reportedly said in one email: “If we cut it in half, we would just have double the line wait? I’m seeing some sites that say we could get away with 75 toilets.”
Executive producer of the festival, Lily Villanueva, replied and advised against providing loos on the cheap, saying: “This is a ‘luxury’ campsite where people will be using this as [their] only source of relief for 5 consecutive days.
“Ultimately its your call, but please consider the backlash of nasty bathrooms and showers. We have to move quick on this or we are in a shitty place, lol. Sorry.”
A string of Instagram stars, including supermodels Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski, were paid to promote the festival but apologised for their involvement.
And though news that the luxury music festival had crumbled into chaos sparked sniggers online, there was genuine concern for the safetly of the stranded revellers.
Relieved to share that all guest are safe, and have been sent the form to apply for a refund. Our deepest apologies… #fyrefestival
— Ja Rule (@Ruleyork) April 30, 2017
After ticket holders were sent refund forms to claim their money back, organizers issued a statement that read in part, “We thought we were ready, but then everyone arrived.”
Ja Rule and McFarland have been slapped with several lawsuits alleging fraud and breach of contract and entertainment law firm, Geragos & Geragos, has demanded $100 million from Fyre Festival organisers on behalf of the attendees in a class-action complaint.
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