We can laugh at the wealthy influencers who paid $12,000 apiece to attend Fyre Festival back in 2017 and the infamous cheese sandwiches they were greeted with, but no one would argue that they could have foreseen what a disaster the event would turn out to be. The blame for that lies squarely with festival organizer/convicted con man Billy McFarland, who was sentenced to six years in prison back in 2018 after pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and making false statements to federal law enforcement.
But now McFarland is back, and he’s got another bridge to sell you, figuratively speaking. The scammer was released from prison back in 2022 after serving four years of his six-year sentence, and this week he announced on his Instagram page that tickets for Fyre Festival 2 are currently on sale.
“Fyre Festival II tickets are officially on sale,” McFarland said in the Instagram video. “It has been the absolute wildest journey to get here, and it really all started during a seven-month stint in solitary confinement. I wrote out this 50-page plan of how it would take this overall interest and demand in Fyre and how it would take my ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen.”
“In the meantime, we’ll be doing pop-ups and events across the world,” he added. “Guys, this is your chance to get in. This is everything I’ve been working towards.”
Does McFarland’s 50-page plan include basic details like, say, where this festival will be taking place, or when, or who will be playing — in other words, literally any information at all about what the thousands of dollars guests shell out will get them? Unclear! McFarland only said that Fyre Festival 2 will take place somewhere in the Caribbean sometime near the end of 2024, but no specific date or any information about which musical acts will be on the lineup has been revealed yet.
OK, Fine, Fyre Festival Attendees Deserve Some Money, I Guess
277 ticketholders from the ill-fated event will receive $7,220 apieceThese would be big red flags for anyone with common sense, but apparently, there are a good amount of very trusting idiots out there, because McFarland claims that the first batch of pre-sale tickets has already sold out.
“Since 2016 FYRE has been the most talked about festival in the world,” he wrote on Instagram. “We now saw this convert to one of the highest-priced GA pre-sales in the industry.” He also added that money from the ticket sales “will be held in escrow until the final date is announced.”
Still, it begs the question: Who’s actually dumb enough to buy tickets to this thing? If the comments on McFarland’s original Instagram post announcing Fyre Festival 2 are any indication, it’s going to be more difficult for him to find new marks — er, customers — this time around. “Pay the locals of that island you scammed first!!” one wrote, while another said, “Cool. Can’t wait to not go” and one simply pleaded, “Bro, give it up, get a normal job.”
Once a grifter, always a grifter — but if you’re willing to be fooled twice by McFarland, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.
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