‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.‘ –Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto Six, Stanza Seventeen
“This thing is like an onion. The more layers you peel, the more it stinks.” –George Costanza, Seinfeld, ‘The Soul Mate,’ Season 8, Episode 2
Yes, now that I and the rest of the industrialized world have learned that Billy McFarland is organizing a second Fyre Festival, I’m jumping on the bandwagon–here and in my most recent podcast episode. But this is just as much a public-service announcment as it is the latest entry into this rogues’ gallery.
As so many people before me have pointed out, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for various forms of fraud, but was released after less than four–and his life after prison has been less then exemplary. One of the first things he did when he got out of prison was launch a social-media campaign for a ‘remote-island extravaganza’ he called PYRT (pronounced ‘Pirate’–how appropriate); some time after, he connected Donald Trump with rappers, who he managed to convince to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign (presumably at Trump’s request–as if rappers and their endorsement would make him cool to anyone outside of his fan club). Apparently, Billy McFarland isn’t very good at keeping his head down, even after a public embarrassment–even if it isn’t the magnitude of the first Fyre Festival.
And now there’s the alleged Fyre Festival Part 2.
Just the first Fyre (non)Festival alone should alert us all that Billy McFarland cannot, and should not, be trusted. As Calvin Wells pointed out at the end of the Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, “if there’s anything the guy is good at, it’s separating consumers from their cash.” There’s no doubt McFarland is good at marketing; former Fyre Media employee Shiyuan Deng stated in The Greatest Party That Never Happened that, “He can sell you on anything.” Unfortunately (from what I’ve heard and read), McFarland has decided to use his marketing skills to con people out of their money rather than for any good purpose. As Magnesis, Fyre, NYC-VIP Access, PYRT, and now potentially Fyre Festival 2 show, Billy McFarland is, as they say in Texas, all hat and no cattle. In fact, it seems to me that McFarland would rather play at being an entrepreneur than actually be an entrepreneur–and scam people out of their money in the process, while other people do the actual work and eventually have to come to terms with the fact that they won’t get paid–or, if they do, it won’t be for the right amount (they’ll be short-changed). He reminds me of Cartman in the South Park episode ‘DikinBaus Hot Dogs,’ except McFarland has no Butters Stotch to pick up the slack for him and make sure his ‘businesses’ actually deliver, especially in the long-term. And let’s not forget McFarland has been barred from ever serving as director of a public company–for good reason, from where I’m standing.
In this economy–hell, in any economy, but especially in this one–I’d recommend against buying any bill of goods this guy sells you; it’s clear he can’t–or more to the point, won’t–deliver. I’d just hate to hear any more about people forking over their money for something that doesn’t deliver on promises its creator/s made or doesn’t even exist; even more than that, I’d hate to hear any more about people, locally and in far-off locales, enduring hardship because they didn’t get paid for their labour–or didn’t get paid enough–for the sake of the aformentioned something, especially because someone like one William Zervakos McFarland doesn’t want a regular, legitimate job–or at least put in a stroke of work at any of the businesses he starts, and check his ego at the door.
For the love of all that is holy, do NOT, under any circumstances, buy any tickets to Fyre Festival 2, or anything else Billy McFarland feels like selling you. Learn from the first Fyre Festival–this individual will not deliver. as he has a mouth full of thunder but no lightning in either of his hands.
Sources (in no particular order):
https://www.businessinsider.com/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-magnises-history-townhouse-2019-1
https://fortune.com/2017/08/30/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-magnises/
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jimmy-kimmel-surprised-fyre-festival-161158179.html
Chloe Desilets 