Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

[Luckylyn]

Quote

An exclusive behind the scenes look at the infamous unraveling of the Fyre music festival.

It’s amazing to see the absolute refusal of the people in charge to see that it couldn’t work.  Doing stuff like firing the engineer who is pointing out logistical problems rather than take his advice.  That one employee who told them to cancel the event because going through with it and trapping people in a place that doesn’t have the infrastructure  to handle it is worse than the bad publicity from cancelling getting a reply that completely ignored his valid points (talking about showing off his yoga skills). It was this trainwreck so many people saw coming, and it just couldn’t be stopped.   Somehow they thought they would pull it off at the last minute if they just kept going.

I know nothing about planning something like this and even I know that the first thing you plan for before publicity and bookings is infrastructure.  People need food, plumbing, and a comfortable place to sleep.   Like the enginner said plan for bathrooms first before booking the models.  They booked people without first assessing realistically how many people would be able stay on the site.  They targeted the luxury audience charging huge fees and had no clue how to deliver what was promised.   People booked villas and got soaking wet tents instead.  I’d be pissed about that kind of bait and switch.  Even the timeline of weeks to plan when they had no experience with this kind of event was shockingly naive.  Like one guy said experienced event organizers take at least a year to plan a festival.  

Edited January 22, 2019 by Luckylyn

[RealReality10]

So are we going to talk about the guy who randomly ripped holes on tents and peed on mattresses?  WTF is wrong with people?

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, RealReality10 said:

So are we going to talk about the guy who randomly ripped holes on tents and peed on mattresses?  WTF is wrong with people?

And then bragged about it. Like why are you such an asshole.

I wonder if Andy’s sexual fetish is humiliation because agreeing to suck a dick to release the trucks of water for this clusterfuck of a festival is ridiculous.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

My husband and I were literally rolling around laughing at many points in this documentary. What a total and hilarious failure of the power of positive thinking. I always make fun of the "positive thinking" people and this type of thing is exactly why. I get that the guy was scamming people but his positive thinking BS made him way overestimate his abilities at that too. Seriously what did he expect would happen? What was his goal here?

The funniest part is how easily this could have been avoided with even the tiniest bit of common sense. Like scheduling it for the next year instead of a few weeks away. Or even just cancelling it when they got kicked off of Norman's Cay. That would have been a legitimate "unforeseen circumstances" reason for cancelling it and while people would have been a little pissed, they could have gotten away mostly unscathed.

Actually that's not the funniest part. The funniest part is that the mattresses were in TENTS, aka structures that are supposed to provide some kind of shelter from the elements, and yet got completely soaked as soon as it rained because they left the tent flaps open and there was no floor protection. And somehow nobody even considered the possibility it might rain. IN THE TROPICS.

2 hours ago, RealReality10 said:

So are we going to talk about the guy who randomly ripped holes on tents and peed on mattresses?  WTF is wrong with people?

It's a little disturbing to think of how things would go if there was an actual emergency with people like that around. Sociopaths walk among us, as they say. Like wow you have to sleep on a wet mattress and eat cheese sandwiches in a well-populated tourist area. It's not the end times.

22 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

I wonder if Andy’s sexual fetish is humiliation because agreeing to suck a dick to release the trucks of water for this clusterfuck of a festival is ridiculous.

Honestly I feel like the behavior of the entire crew during this event can only explained by some sort of mass delusion syndrome. Well that and "late-stage capitalism" as the kids say.

Also, Fyre Festival tl;dr version:

Edited January 22, 2019 by BuyMoreAndSave

[JustaPerson]

Has anyone seen the Hulu doc on Fyre? I have netflix but not hulu and was curious how they stack up against each other. I believe the hulu version has interviews with Billy himself? And is more about him? From what I've read, Billy doesn't do much but try spin it more. But the netflix one isn't that much less shady, given that Jerry media, the company that handled the Fyre festival marketing helped create their doc. 

Edited January 22, 2019 by JustaPerson

[biakbiak]

1 minute ago, JustaPerson said:

Has anyone seen the Hulu doc on Fyre? I have netflix but not hulu and was curious how they stack up against each other. I believe the hulu version has an interview with Billy himself? And they paid him for it too.

 I have seen both and thought the Netflix one was better overall but that the Hulu one was better about explaining Billy and his “millennial” credit card to provide context for how he even got to the point of FYRE and was better explaining the role of the influencers. 

Yes the Hulu doc paid Billy and didn’t get their money’s worth because his interview wasn’t interesting and didn’t yield any new info. That said the Netflix doc is produced by the Fuck Jerry guys who marketed and sold the festival and knew shit was shady and it’s why they have so much behind the scenes footage so both are problematic.

In hopefully good news the only people I felt sorry for were the Bahamian workers who weren’t paid at all and the restaurant owner featured in the Netflix doc full funded her GoFundMe. I also felt bad for the lower level workers at Fyre but so many of the others were paid at least some of their wages and knew this was going to be a disaster from early on so I don’t have as much sympathy.

I have zero sympathy for the festival goers because they seemed like vapid tryhard dillholes who saw an orange tile on IG and spent a shit ton of money. 

[Luckylyn]

2 hours ago, biakbiak said:

 In hopefully good news the only people I felt sorry for were the Bahamian workers who weren’t paid at all and the restaurant owner featured in the Netflix doc full funded her GoFundMe. I also felt bad for the lower level workers at Fyre but so many of the others were paid at least some of their wages and knew this was going to be a disaster from early on so I don’t have as much sympathy.

I appreciated that the documentary highlights the locals who were abandoned without being paid.  Then there are the Fyre employees who had nothing to do with the festival and only the app that got ruined.  So many people focus on mocking the wealthy attendees that got screwed over that they forget that people who couldn’t afford the loss were harmed.

 The Fyre employees that saw the clusterfuck coming weren’t in a good position because the boss didn’t want to hear the truth.  The engineer got fired for refusing to tell Billy what he wanted to hear.  That one employee talked about hanging on just to get the final part of his salary that the company was withholding until after the festival.  I feel like he should have figured out that his ever getting the full amount was unlikely considering how much of a mess and money drain the planning was.  Plus even if he was certain he would get paid he knew others were going to be screwed over.  I do appreciate he wrote an email pointing out the logical reasons to cancel and how he was ignored.  At least one employee was an informant providing pictures and info about the mess in advance but not enough people listened.

So much attention is focused on Billy who is basically a con artist who created a situation that for the first time in his life he couldn’t B.S. his way out of it.  I’m curious about his business partner Ja Rule and how much he was involved.  Was Ja Rule unaware of the bad situation?  Was he only involved in promotion leaving everthing else to Billy?

[Dr.OO7]

I feel sorry for basically everyone, even the attendees. I heard a lot of people laughing about how "those spoiled rich people got what they deserve", but it doesn't matter if you paid $1 or  $1million for something, you deserve to get what you paid for. You don't deserve a crappy tent when you paid for a villa. 

And you sure as hell don't deserve to be placed in a potentially unsafe situation. No medical facilities? Are you kidding me? They're damn lucky no one got hurt or became ill.

I still wonder if MacFarland was deliberately trying to scam people or did he honestly think he could pull off something of this magnitude within a few months?

[BuyMoreAndSave]

4 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

At least one employee was an informant providing pictures and info about the mess in advance but not enough people listened.

So much attention is focused on Billy who is basically a con artist who created a situation that for the first time in his life he couldn’t B.S. his way out of it.  I’m curious about his business partner Ja Rule and how much he was involved.  Was Ja Rule unaware of the bad situation?  Was he only involved in promotion leaving everthing else to Billy?

They never revealed who was leaking the information about Fyre Festival!

Ja Rule disappeared about 25 minutes into the documentary so I think he wasn't involved for most of the planning and had no idea what was going on.

45 minutes ago, Camille said:

I feel sorry for basically everyone, even the attendees. I heard a lot of people laughing about how "those spoiled rich people got what they deserve", but it doesn't matter if you paid $1 or  $1million for something, you deserve to get what you paid for. You don't deserve a crappy tent when you paid for a villa. 

And you sure as hell don't deserve to be placed in a potentially unsafe situation. No medical facilities? Are you kidding me? They're damn lucky no one got hurt or became ill.

I still wonder if MacFarland was deliberately trying to scam people or did he honestly think he could pull off something of this magnitude within a few months?

In a way they did...a lot of them got more views and publicity from documenting Fyre Festival on their social media than they otherwise would have. Plus they have an entertaining story. They should get their money back plus damages though like that one guy who sued. I agree about the medical faciities and some people were also locked in a room for hours without food or water. I read one person passed out from the heat and needed medical attention. But if these morons didn't realize that rain was a possibility in the tropics, they probably also didn't think of medical facilities.

With McFarland I think it was a little of both. He wasn't convicted of scamming customers, he was convicted of scamming investors. Perhaps that is the most angering part that he is in jail for scamming them and has to pay them $26 million but he hasn't been charged with anything related to the customers. I don't think he wanted it to fail because he was crying and upset when it did. The other scams he ran that were just straight up stealing from customers did not have his name so publicly attached to it. The best I can tell was that he wanted the event to be a success on the base level but probably a lot of the things he promised were never going to be there; that he stole from investors by overpromising, probably thinking "it will turn out awesome anyway and they won't care"; and my guess is he also planned to never fully compensate workers and vendors.

Edited January 22, 2019 by BuyMoreAndSave

[RealReality10]

I'm probably not very nice, but the attendees getting screwed was hilarious to me.  

The documentary was great because I didn't have to feel sorry for anyone except the bahamians.  I also didn't feel bad for the employees.  They knew this was a shitshow.  I also suspect in a company where someone gets paid in a bag of cash that you know you're not on solid footing.

15 hours ago, biakbiak said:

And then bragged about it. Like why are you such an asshole.

I wonder if Andy’s sexual fetish is humiliation because agreeing to suck a dick to release the trucks of water for this clusterfuck of a festival is ridiculous.

Yeah, it's bizarre to me that you would do that and then proudly admit to it.  Like I get that people do things they normally wouldn't when they are stressed, but you're gleefully talking about how there were limited supplies and so you peed on them?   What?

Also, why was Andy admitting to that either.  And why did anyone assume that this customs official wanted a BJ from Andy so bad?  Andy isn't a bad looking guy, but he isn't some hot young thing that some corrupt dude would be dying for.  

Was this some weird humblebrag about his sexual acumen?

12 hours ago, biakbiak said:

 I have seen both and thought the Netflix one was better overall 

Yes the Hulu doc paid Billy and didn’t get their money’s worth because his interview wasn’t interesting and didn’t yield any new info. 

I have zero sympathy for the festival goers because they seemed like vapid tryhard dillholes who saw an orange tile on IG and spent a shit ton of money. 

Agree on all three points

1. Ive only seen a bit of the Hulu documentary and it's all right but the Netflix one IMO focused more on the shitshow that was fyre festival, which fascinates on so many levels*

2. I actually think the interview with Billy was more annoying because you can tell he is right back to trying to con people into thinking this wasn't all his fault, which I find annoying.  Then again, any attempts to explain away his behavior sounds like crap to me.  I also didn't appreciate his mother painting him out to be a misunderstood genius.  If he was so smart and like doing complex math when he was five then he should have known this was a terrible idea that would never happen.

3. I couldn't agree more.

 The first people who attended cochella did so for the music and the entertainment.  It was later that you got glamping and luxury digs.  Yes, people endured crap conditions at Woodstock, but that's because there was a passion for the music and the period.  

People going to fyre festival werent going because they had some deep passion, it's was all the superficiality of going as a status symbol.  Based on slick videos, Instagram models and social media influencers and swimming with pigs on an island that belonged to Pablo Escobar.  

The joy of knowing that these tryhards we're intensely disappointed because no one was envious of them and was instead making fun of them is deliciously entertaining.

* Having said that, I think both documentaries offer a different and interesting point of view.

Edited January 22, 2019 by RealReality10

[GaT]

On 1/22/2019 at 6:16 AM, Camille said:

I still wonder if MacFarland was deliberately trying to scam people or did he honestly think he could pull off something of this magnitude within a few months?

I wondered about this too. If he was really trying to scam people, I don't see how he thought he would be able to get away with it. He had to know that at some point it would all fail & he would be caught. If he really thought he could pull it off, then he is seriously delusional. Or maybe, it was a combination of both, he was scamming people, but somehow thought he would be able to get away with it. The fact that he started another scam while out on bail makes me think option 3 is the correct answer. 

Edited January 25, 2019 by GaT

[RealReality10]

55 minutes ago, GaT said:

I wondered about this too. If he was really trying to scam people.I don't see how he thought he would be able to get away with it. He had to know that at some point it would all fail & he would be caught. If he really thought he could pull it off, then he is seriously delusional. Or maybe,it was a combination of both, he was scamming people,but somehow thought he would be able to get away with it. The fact that he started another scam while out on bail makes me think option 3 is the correct answer. 

I think he might be one of those guys that thinks he can pull off anything because he has been led to believe he is amazing.

Like some of his ticket scams sounded like basic Ponzi schemes.  Other things sounded like he thought that if he went to a big name artist like Taylor Swift and said "here I already have like $200,000 lined up for you to do a meet and greet," that the money, combined with his charm would change her mind.

Like one of those guys that feels he just has to get in a room with someone and he can sell them whatever.

I think that he felt no guilt or shame when it didn't work out and people got bilked.

He is like a pie in the sky, big idea salesman with no concrete concept of nuts and bolts.  He just wants to order that desk from IKEA because it looks cool.

I think he thought like in the first couple weeks he could pull off fyre festival, but relatively early he had to know that it wasn't going to fly.  I'd say once he got booted from Norman caye he knew it wasn't going to work and it was a scam, pure and simple from that point forward.

Edited January 22, 2019 by RealReality10

[Guest]

5 hours ago, RealReality10 said:

I'm probably not very nice, but the attendees getting screwed was hilarious to me.  

 

You can come sit right next to me on that speeding freight train to hell because I felt the same way. The one kid who was explaining he was just sitting in his parents basement with nothing to do other than scrolling around on his phone and WOW! He sees the Insta ads for this clusterfuck and decided he needs to go. Attention sir! This is EXACTLY the reason why you're living in your parents' basement—because you spent thousands of dollars to go a music festival where you could "hang out" with Instagram-famous people instead of using those thousands of dollars to move out. And then there was the one "influencer" who got to the Bahamas and actually got the villa (I suspect she was comped) and then was all *smile/shrug* when she found out no one else had a place to sleep then proceeded to make a video of herself dancing around her cavernous (and nearly empty) accommodation. OH! And the one chick at the airport yelling, "Where's our water?!" Bitch, go have a seat, please. You're not going to dehydrate loitering in the lobby of the airport. Your hand can be without a Fiji bottle for an hour. It'll live. I relish all of their misery. 

And I loved, loved how all those fools thought Billy was some sort of visionary. The guy had ZERO charisma normally associated with the sociopathic con artist. He wasn't even good looking. Like, the best that can be said for him was that he was tall. (And possibly an uglier version of Seth McFarlane.) I mean, honest to god, does anyone have a reasonable amount of common sense anymore? And I really wanted to know more about that Carolla (sp?) woman who was his mentor/financier.  I'd also love to know what kind of buffoon gets all excited by having a credit card that's heavier than their other ones. 

I guarantee there is a 100% chance that once he's released, he's going to go right back to his grifting ways.  

Save for the people of the Bahamas, everyone in this documentary needs to get launched into outer space. 

ETA: And for the life of me, I can never pronounce it "fire." I kept calling it "frye" (like the boots) in my head and to all my friends who wanted to talk about this past weekend.

[biakbiak]

7 hours ago, BuyMoreAndSave said:

Ja Rule disappeared about 25 minutes into the documentary so I think he wasn't involved for most of the planning and had no idea what was going on.

Oh I definitely think he knew he just didn’t care, he was in on a lot of the meetings and saw emails and to quote him during the meeting where he said they had to spin the bad press “"That's not fraud. that's not fraud. That is, uh, I would call that false advertising."

[RealReality10]

I think he looks like Terry from Reno 911.  Tell me these guys couldn't be brother's!  At least first cousins.

[sally-can-wait]

14 hours ago, Camille said:

They're damn lucky no one got hurt or became ill.

Exactly. And even though I know the attendees got out of there unharmed while watching I kept thinking how easily it could have turned into a Woodsock ’99 situation with rioting and sexual assaults. I mean the only thing there seemed to be sufficient supply of was alcohol. What a cluster****.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

8 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Oh I definitely think he knew he just didn’t care, he was in on a lot of the meetings and saw emails and to quote him during the meeting where he said they had to spin the bad press “"That's not fraud. that's not fraud. That is, uh, I would call that false advertising."

Would he really not care about the inevitable bad publicity though? The main reason he did this was good publicity. I think in the meeting he was just trying more positive thinking BS trying to salvage the situation. That stuff is truly a cult.

Although my husband did say "Ja Rule has lost his mind ever since 50 Cent ended his career" but I don't know enough about rap history to say whether that's true or not.

[MaggieG]

I'm so happy there was a GoFundMe started for the Bahamian lady restaurant owner (I can't remember her name). She was the only one I sympathized with. That poor woman having to go through her hard earned savings (that she probably spent years saving) just to pay employees. 

[RealReality10]

1 hour ago, MaggieG said:

I'm so happy there was a GoFundMe started for the Bahamian lady restaurant owner (I can't remember her name). She was the only one I sympathized with. That poor woman having to go through her hard earned savings (that she probably spent years saving) just to pay employees. 

I agree, the bahamians were the real victims.

In other news, Justin S. Liao, the Asian guy who gleefully admitted that he and his Bros peed on mattresses and tore up tents apparently released a statement and then deletes his Instagram.  Millennial justice.

I'd link to it, but I don't use Twitter or Instagram.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, MaggieG said:

 

I'm so happy there was a GoFundMe started for the Bahamian lady restaurant owner (I can't remember her name). She was the only one I sympathized with. That poor woman having to go through her hard earned savings (that she probably spent years saving) just to pay employees. 

 

I'm happy for her, too. I'd really like to see the workers who did all the construction work get paid, too. 

[Guest]

12 hours ago, RealReality10 said:

In other news, Justin S. Liao, the Asian guy who gleefully admitted that he and his Bros peed on mattresses and tore up tents apparently released a statement and then deletes his Instagram. 

I had to go looking for it and...his Instagram is still active (but he disabled comments on some posts and seems to be deleting negative comments on others). It appears that Justin is a "Cryptocurrency" bro (so, likely on the same grifting path Billy was on) and is another rich asshole with a highly "curated" Instagram showcasing him traveling the world in luxury. 

He can go fuck right off the earth, too.

[MaggieG]

@Giant Misfit I agree he can fuck off. I know that everyone has a different path in life and we all make our money differently. I guess I'm a chump because I work hard for my salary and I save up for my one vacation a year. No way in hell could I see myself spending thousands of dollars on a just launched music festival. I have many others things I would rather spend it on. 

And I know it's not her fault she's rich but I can't believe Kendall Jenner got paid $250K just to post one pic about the festival on her Instagram. She can probably pay all of the Bahamian workers with that money alone. 

[biakbiak]

2 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

And I know it's not her fault she's rich but I can't believe Kendall Jenner got paid $250K just to post one pic about the festival on her Instagram. She can probably pay all of the Bahamian workers with that money alone. 

But lFuck Jerry were the people who paid her and marketed it from jump and made this documentary and when highlighting her participation dimenished their on. They knew it was a clusterfuck from jump and made money and made more money on this movie which they produced. Kendall Jenner should not be the face of this bullshit nonsense. So many people including the Fuck Jerry boys should be ahead of her.

[MaggieG]

8 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

But lFuck Jerry were the people who paid her and marketed it from jump and made this documentary and when highlighting her participation dimenished their on. They knew it was a clusterfuck from jump and made money and made more money on this movie which they produced. Kendall Jenner should not be the face of this bullshit nonsense. So many people including the Fuck Jerry boys should be ahead of her.

I agree, I didn't mean to imply that it was her fault. She got paid to post a pic. She has a huge social media following so it makes sense. She didn't know what was going on. I think it's more the reality (just what I noticed from watching) of how much money went into the "important" stuff. The video with the models, the private island, the website with all of the fancy pictures, the money for the villas that all of the "influencers" stayed in. All of that was more important to them then paying the people that worked hard to try and get things set up.

[biakbiak]

6 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

The video with the models, the private island, the website with all of the fancy pictures, t

I just found them singling out Kendall in the doc was ridiculous she wasn’t even one of the models she did one post. 

[RealReality10]

15 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

I just found them singling out Kendall in the doc was ridiculous she wasn’t even one of the models she did one post. 

I take everyone to task, including Kendall Jenner.  For better or worse, if you get paid 250k for a post you're basically a spokesperson for the event, like it or not.  You're part of the public face of the event.  She knew that her post, especially if it implied that Kanye West was going to perform was part of the reason people we're going to attend that festival.

If you're going to take 250k to promote something, which is basically selling it to other people, I think you have a responsibility to make sure it's something legit.

[biakbiak]

35 minutes ago, RealReality10 said:

I take everyone to task, including Kendall Jenner.  For better or worse, if you get paid 250k for a post you're basically a spokesperson for the event, like it or not.  You're part of the public face of the event.  She knew that her post, especially if it implied that Kanye West was going to perform was part of the reason people we're going to attend that festival.

If you're going to take 250k to promote something, which is basically selling it to other people, I think you have a responsibility to make sure it's something legit.

I don’t disagree but she was the one called out over and over when many high profile influencers weren’t called out repeatedly and in the lawsuits in the doc that was produced by Fuck Jerry when they were most likely the agency that paid her and were treated in this doc as not involved when they knew from jump that it was shady and because they produced the doc downplayed their active and knowing involvement and chose to use her as the example to shield their brand and complicity.

Edited January 24, 2019 by biakbiak

[RealReality10]

^^true, she has been publicly called out a lot for it.

[greekmom]

Never heard of this till I saw the documentary.  What a surreal clusterfuck.

1. Billy, JaRule and company are outright fraudsters. And then to get this Andy guy into it as well to continue to grift people out of their money.

2. I agree with posters above. I have zero sympathy for people who paid a shit ton of money to attend this because they could afford it. It was all about the status and posting up their social media.  

3. That idiot who peed and ripped tents so he can get a people free zone around his own tent. The woman who took all the toilet paper. It was like they were pillaging and looting since their world was going to end.  

4. The bullshit meetings after the shit hit the fan.  JaRule with his positive bullcrap and saying it isn't fraud.  Uhhhh idiot it's fraud!!! I don't get how he didn't get any fines or jail time for this.  I checked online and he states he was "frauded" as well. Oh no, Ja, you were not frauded, you were just uhhhhh false advertised by your brother Billy."

5.  The guy who said he would have to blow someone for Evian water. EVIAN WATER!?!?!?!  Why? Was local bottled water not good enough?

6. I feel bad for the locals. They were the ones who got screwed over the most.

I just so can't with this!

[Misslindsey]

I felt sorry for the Bahamians, especially the woman who owned the restaurant. I have to admit I felt a bit sorry for some of the people that were just working on the app and did not know what was really going on with the festival. I did laugh at what I think were some of the app people attempting to call out Billy and some of the festival employees during the meeting where a lot of the employees were video conferencing in. Also, I liked whichever employee tried to call out Billy during the meeting after the festival where he was technically not firing anyone, but everyone from that point on would be working without pay.

Did any of the musical acts actually show up?

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, greekmom said:

The guy who said he would have to blow someone for Evian water. EVIAN WATER!?!?!?!  Why? Was local bottled water not good enough?

The island isn’t that big they were going to have to have water brought in no matter what the brand. 

[RealReality10]

39 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

The island isn’t that big they were going to have to have water brought in no matter what the brand. 

I just find it hard to believe that any country would have really withheld water from a large group of people.

Yes, the bahamians said they weren't going to release the water and maybe Billy should have just suckered someone from his Rolodex of rich dummies to send the money. 

However  they weren't going to let people, especially a group  of mostly rich, mostly white all American kids get dehydrated enough to end up using emergency services.  They would have done exactly what they did without all the dramatics and degredation.

[biakbiak]

6 minutes ago, RealReality10 said:

just find it hard to believe that any country would have really withheld water from a large group of people.

They wouldn’t have needed to deprive them of it there was water on the island for them at stores, restaurants etc. no one was going to die because lack of water. Like most islands tons of shit has to be imported.  

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Misslindsey said:

I have to admit I felt a bit sorry for some of the people that were just working on the app

Eh. I know what you're saying but I kinda feel those people were getting high on their own supply, too. An app for rich people who could book talent for their birthday parties? First of all, I wonder how much of a real need there is for something like that. If they're that rich, they have assistants. Assistants can do that. And second, those people weren't creating a device that cured cancer. It was an app. Like Candy Crush or Tinder. In the end, no one needs any of these things. I mean, I'm sorry they lost their jobs but that's about it. At least they got paid—until they were told they could come to work for free. 

[RealReality10]

8 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

Eh. I know what you're saying but I kinda feel those people were getting high on their own supply, too. An app for rich people who could book talent for their birthday parties? First of all, I wonder how much of a real need there is for something like that. If they're that rich, they have assistants. Assistants can do that. And second, those people weren't creating a device that cured cancer. It was an app. Like Candy Crush or Tinder. In the end, no one needs any of these things. I mean, I'm sorry they lost their jobs but that's about it. At least they got paid—until they were told they could come to work for free. 

I agree.

Also, you can't tell me that a group of smart app developers weren't smart enough to see that this guy was a fraud.  He was paying people in bags of cash.  Now I'll take my money how I can get it, but if someone is getting paid in bags of cash, they know it's not a solid job.

They also seemed to know all about his ticket Ponzi scheme (I got tickets to Beyonce, now I gotta buy the Beyonce tickets with the money I just got from people who bought Hamilton tickets from me that I don't have!).

Additionally, even if you're working on the next amazing app, working as an app developer for a start up seems like it's not the most solid job but there is plenty of opportunity to find another start up app to work on.

[Anela]

On 1/22/2019 at 2:29 PM, GaT said:

I wondered about this too. If he was really trying to scam people, I don't see how he thought he would be able to get away with it. He had to know that at some point it would all fail & he would be caught. If he really thought he could pull it off, then he is seriously delusional. Or maybe, it was a combination of both, he was scamming people, but somehow thought he would be able to get away with it. The fact that he started another scam while out on bail makes me think option 3 is the correct answer. 

He was definitely scamming - that bit at the end left me sure of that. 

I keep receiving spammy calls. I don't pick up, I call back as "unknown" to see who it was, and then hang up and block if it's spam. Today, I called one right back, a foreign guy asks what he can do for me, and I just tell him that he can stop calling me. I didn't get to say anything else, before he hung up on me.

On 1/22/2019 at 5:13 PM, biakbiak said:

Oh I definitely think he knew he just didn’t care, he was in on a lot of the meetings and saw emails and to quote him during the meeting where he said they had to spin the bad press “"That's not fraud. that's not fraud. That is, uh, I would call that false advertising."

Agreed. false advertising = fraudulent. JFC. You would think having his name attached would be an incentive to make sure that things work out, not just give out some bullshit ra-ra alternative news crap.

On 1/24/2019 at 9:50 AM, biakbiak said:

But lFuck Jerry were the people who paid her and marketed it from jump and made this documentary and when highlighting her participation dimenished their on. They knew it was a clusterfuck from jump and made money and made more money on this movie which they produced. Kendall Jenner should not be the face of this bullshit nonsense. So many people including the Fuck Jerry boys should be ahead of her.

I don't know who Fuck Jerry is, so I guess I was never cool, I just know that celebrities follow them. So they were partly responsible. Bloody hell.

On 1/24/2019 at 8:59 PM, greekmom said:

 

3. That idiot who peed and ripped tents so he can get a people free zone around his own tent. The woman who took all the toilet paper. It was like they were pillaging and looting since their world was going to end.  

 

They are entitled little shits. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 1/21/2019 at 11:38 PM, JustaPerson said:

Has anyone seen the Hulu doc on Fyre? I have netflix but not hulu and was curious how they stack up against each other. I believe the hulu version has interviews with Billy himself? And is more about him? From what I've read, Billy doesn't do much but try spin it more. But the netflix one isn't that much less shady, given that Jerry media, the company that handled the Fyre festival marketing helped create their doc. 

This article does a pretty good job comparing and contrasting the Netflix one vs the Hulu one.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, Anela said:

don't know who Fuck Jerry is, so I guess I was never cool, I just know that celebrities follow them. So they were partly responsible. Bloody hell.

Fuck Jerry started as an IG account that monetized funny content from other accounts usually without permission or attribution. They got a crazy amount of followers and started a social media marketing company to make things go “viral” and help brands reach influencers and manage their brands. So basically sleazy assholes built a company  on stealing from others which made them a perfect fit for marketing Fyre.

[RealReality10]

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

This article does a pretty good job comparing and contrasting the Netflix one vs the Hulu one.

Thanks for the article.  I definitely think I would watch 10 fyre festival documentaries because I find the whole thing a fascinating clusterf**k

Having said that, I preferred the Netflix one.

Edited January 26, 2019 by RealReality10

[bosawks]

As soon as blonde glasses guy said “unorganization” that’s all I needed to know about the dude bro brigade....

[RealReality10]

4 hours ago, bosawks said:

As soon as blonde glasses guy said “unorganization” that’s all I needed to know about the dude bro brigade....

Heh....dude bro brigade, what an apt description for almost everyone in both documentaries.  Even ja rule.

[bilgistic]

On 1/22/2019 at 3:25 PM, RealReality10 said:

I think he might be one of those guys that thinks he can pull off anything because he has been led to believe he is amazing.

One of the people working for Billy (for starters, don't keep the nickname "Billy" once you are grown) said every time they delivered something for him/the festival that was virtually impossible, it just validated his entitlement. The more they delivered, the higher the expectations, etc. I used to work for a man like that, and it was horrific. I was "negative" any time I discussed being more realistic about what I could deliver (marketing materials) or having him setting attainable timelines with clients because he always overpromised. It's always more, faster, higher, better with that kind of personality, and they are liars and grifters, never taking responsibility for the chaos they create.

[bilgistic]

I just watched the Hulu documentary. I think it's different enough to warrant a watch. He clearly has zero remorse. He barely answers any of the interviewer's questions.

He looks to me like Scott Peterson, which multiplies his creep factor exponentially.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

On 1/25/2019 at 1:54 PM, Giant Misfit said:

Eh. I know what you're saying but I kinda feel those people were getting high on their own supply, too. An app for rich people who could book talent for their birthday parties? First of all, I wonder how much of a real need there is for something like that. If they're that rich, they have assistants. Assistants can do that. And second, those people weren't creating a device that cured cancer. It was an app. Like Candy Crush or Tinder. In the end, no one needs any of these things. I mean, I'm sorry they lost their jobs but that's about it. At least they got paid—until they were told they could come to work for free. 

App developer here. Developers don't choose what the product does or even what it looks like. Managers choose what it does, and designers choose what it looks like. Developers just make it all work according to specifications (and many times the managers or designers want something that would be difficult to enact and get annoyed about it). Sometimes you have to take any job even if you don't believe in the product just to make money and gain experience. The good thing is that at least they can probably use the app for their portfolio even though it got shut down so they can get their next job. Interviewers won't care whether it was a commercially viable product, but rather the skill level demonstrated by whatever it is they worked on. It's also possible they didn't get paid fully depending on what kind of contract they were on.

Also, if jobs only existed based on what people need, probably 80% of jobs would not exist and the economy would collapse. Unless we're going to implement UBI we shouldn't judge people for what career they choose as long as it isn't unethical.

[RealReality10]

@BuyMoreAndSave -- this makes sense to me.  It doesn't sound like an app developer would think many positions were lifelong jobs that you would retire from.  

Do you think that these app developers would have been disappointed that the app didn't turn into a long term opportunity?

Also, I feel like if people around me got paid in straight up cash I'd know something was up, but is this standard in the industry with so many start ups?

[BuyMoreAndSave]

1 hour ago, RealReality10 said:

@BuyMoreAndSave -- this makes sense to me.  It doesn't sound like an app developer would think many positions were lifelong jobs that you would retire from.  

Do you think that these app developers would have been disappointed that the app didn't turn into a long term opportunity?

Also, I feel like if people around me got paid in straight up cash I'd know something was up, but is this standard in the industry with so many start ups?

Most developers I know switch jobs every 2-3 years (most young people in general honestly...I don't think there are many lifelong jobs you can retire from anymore). Some companies also do giant rounds of layoffs every 1-2 years so they can hire less experienced people for cheaper, although the developers are usually spared (changing a project over to a new team of developers is usually chaos) and it's more the managers and designers who get screwed.

They probably didn't expect it to be a long term opportunity. Most startups fail. Most people who work on startups are also people who are just starting out in their careers. However they probably expected more notice that they would have to find a new job. It definitely isn't standard to be paid in cash and I don't think that's even legal...I get paid via bank account transfer.

Edited January 28, 2019 by BuyMoreAndSave

[RealReality10]

^^ thanks, sadly all of my knowledge in this area comes from the hbo show silicon valley.  :)

[merylinkid]

That Weinstein guy was the biggest idiot of them all.   Which is saying something.   He says Billy made a presentation at the conference for event organizations and everyone thought he was crazy.   No way you could put on what he claimed he was planning in the time frame he gave.   So then when things are rolling (or not really but Billy is claiming they are), Weinstein signs on.   Because he meets Billy and decides he's either a genius or fucking nuts.   Umm, what on EARTH could Billy have said at the personal meeting that caused him to change his mind from the conference.

 

Then Weinstein signs on and agrees to get paid 70% after the festival is over.   So he has to hang in there .... just in case the one in a million chance happens and this comes off.   Dude, the writing was so on the wall that you were never getting your 70% .   Better to walk away with your 30% and find other work that would actually pay instead of hanging on working for nothing.   Which yeah, it's not only not getting the 70%, it's what OTHER work could you have been doing instead?   So it's not just that lost pay, but lost opportunity.    

Whole thing was so bad it was a Fustercluck.   

[bilgistic]

All I just kept thinking about Billy McFarland was that people will believe anything a mediocre white guy says under the guise of "charisma".

[merylinkid]

Speaking of Kendall Jenner, her company and two other modeling agencies are being subpoeanaed to produce records related to their promotion of the Festival.    Apparently the LLC that was formed for the festival filed bankruptcy.   The trustees are digging into the finances.    I may have to dig into the why on this a little more.   Not why digging into the finances but what they hope to do with the information uncovered.