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Fyre Festival, Ja Rule and Billy MacFarland
via Netflix

Not this! A second Fyre Festival might be in the works

Fresh out of four years in prison, renowned fraudster Billy McFarland has announced on social media that ‘Fyre Festival II is finally happening’

If you thought that the Fyre Festival saga was over, then you’d be sorely mistaken. Fresh off of four years in prison, festival organiser Billy McFarland tweeted on Monday that “Fyre Festival II is finally happening” before asking his followers to “tell me why you should be invited”.

For those who may have forgotten (but really, how could you?) Fyre Festival was the exclusive music event that descended into utter chaos on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, spawning two documentaries and countless memes lambasting its existence.

Originally billed as the “cultural experience of the decade”, McFarland and his business partner Ja Rule famously enlisted a gang of social media supermodels including Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratijkowksi to market Fyre Festival online. Although tickets could cost upwards of $10,000, festival-goers were left stranded with little to no food on an island with “a rampant shark problem”.

But it seems that a stint in jail and millions of dollars of debt hasn’t put McFarland off. When he tweeted the declaration to his followers, one of the first responses was from none other than Andy King, the OG Fyre Festival events organiser who went viral after admitting in the 2019 Netflix documentary that he was willing to offer a customs official oral sex to release a cargo of Evian water. “Who’s in?” King responded to McFarland’s original tweet, before adding, “Let’s go💦💦”.

Back in October 2022, McFarland announced plans for his new venture PYRT. Pronounced “pirate”, the businessman will host a party on a remote island featuring a luxury treasure hunt and a bevvy of models and influencers (sound familiar?) but will then pair this with a virtual reality replica of the island where anyone who is a part of the “PYRT crew” will be able to join in on the fun. There’s been no official word yet, but the second Fyre Festival will likely be a part of this new venture.

While some may be curious to see what McFarland has up his sleeve after the infamous festival, others will be less happy to see him return – especially the native residents of Great Exuma. According to the Netflix documentary, the majority of local workers were not paid and McFarland owes a quarter of a million dollars in wages to labourers. Maybe he should think about settling those debts before he gives it another try.

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