Two months ago, a viral internet meme had everyone asking one question with varying levels of sincerity: “Are we really storming Area 51?”
The answer, of course, is no, and now the event’s creators seem to have also pulled the plug on their real plans to host an alternative alien festival in lieu of any actual base storming.
College student Matt Roberts, the man behind the original meme, has announced he’s pulling out of the event mere days before the September 20th festival was slated to take place in Rachel, Nevada, the Washington Post reported.
Roberts called the event “a humanitarian disaster,” telling the Post he “didn’t feel comfortable with inviting even my friends and family out to this event, let alone these thousands of strangers,” at the risk of hosting what has been compared to a “Fyre Festival 2.0.”
The 21-year-old and his fellow event planner Frank DiMaggio blame the event’s unravelling on Connie West, an inn-owner in Rachel who was reportedly handling the logistics before becoming increasingly unreliable in the weeks leading up to the event. West, however, has maintained that she has prepared for the event and feels betrayed by the organizers’ exit. West has reportedly told news outlets that the event is still on.
“She’s saying they’re coming anyway,” DiMaggio told the Post. “I really hope that they’re not.”
As far as the town of Rachel is concerned, the event is definitely off. “The Alienstock event in Rachel just became Fyre Fest 2.0 as we had predicted,” reads a statement on the town’s website. “If any event still happens it is going to be a pretty sad affair with no bands, very little infrastructure and a lot of unhappy campers.”
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