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Image by Cottonbro Studio
The infamous disaster that was Fyre Festival in 2017 was declared the “most epic fail in concert history” by TMZ. It gifted the internet a smorgasbord of memes that revealed sizzling schadenfreude, the absurd fraudulence of luxury, the jaw-dropping hubris of the rich, and, of course, that unforgettable cheese sandwich – which was, apparently, a scam?
Now, Billy McFarland, fresh from his stint in prison (and without former partner-in-crime Ja Rule), is back at it with Fyre Festival 2. One would think that having your credibility ground to smithereens by both the general public and the USA’s criminal justice system – McFarland served time in prison for literal financial crimes related to Fyre Festival after defrauding investors of $27.4 million – would deter you from launching a second edition of such an ordeal. Not McFarland.
Fyre Festival 2 is slated for May 30 to June 2, 2025, after already missing its initial April date – a fitting tribute to the original event, which never actually happened. This time, the promised land is Isla Mujeres, a picturesque island off the coast of Cancún. But there’s one small problem: the island authorities do not appear to have been informed that Fyre Festival 2 is set to take place on their soil.
Edgar Gasca, from the Isla Mujeres tourism directorate, told The Guardian: “We have no knowledge of this event, nor contact with any person or company about it… For us, this is an event that does not exist.”. Gasca claims he checked with the state tourism minister and local hotels listed on Fyre’s website – and none of them have been contacted. Oh, and if you plug the coordinates from the festival’s website into Google Maps, they lead to the middle of the ocean, not Isla Mujeres.
“This festival is not going to happen. There are red flags all over the place,” Gasca added.
Meanwhile, McFarland is doubling down as the chaos continues to unfold. He recently posted on Instagram, in all caps, “FYRE FESTIVAL 2 IS REAL.” Vanity Fair describes him as “the poster boy for millennial scamming”, but it seems laughable that a scammer would be so brazen and shameless after having sullied his reputation on such an astronomical scale.
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And yet, tickets are somehow on sale, ranging from $1,400 to $12,500 – a steal compared to the supposed $25,000 VIP tier. No lineup has been announced, no logistics explained, but the website is ready to take your money. It’s as if the first fiasco wasn’t a cautionary tale but a marketing strategy.
In a culture that has a fixation on exclusivity and spectacle, maybe Fyre Festival 2 is the perfect event. Not because it’ll actually happen, but because the absurdity itself is the attraction. After all, what’s more iconic than spending thousands for a festival that only exists in Instagram captions and TikTok conspiracy theories?
Perhaps festivalgoers ought to be advised to bring a life vest to the party – just in case the stage is indeed in the middle of the ocean.
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