Aspiring event planner Billy McFarland is throwing in the towel on Fyre Festival.
After two failures to launch, McFarland is hoping to sell the brand he made famous — for better or worse — to another operator. The announcement comes after two years of trying to launch a second Fyre Festival to follow the 2017 debacle that landed him in prison for four years.
“Over the past two years, we’ve poured everything into bringing Fyre back with honesty, transparency, relentless effort, and creativity,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. “We’ve taken the long road to rebuilding trust. We rebuilt momentum. And we proved one thing without a doubt: Fyre is one of the most powerful attention engines in the world.”
With the help of rapper Ja Rule, McFarland attempted to stage a massive music festival for big spenders in the Bahamas in 2017. The event was derailed by a series of setbacks — including heavy rains that made a mess of the campground area where revelers complained of intolerable conditions and barely edible meals like cheese sandwiches. Performers canceled and attendees found themselves racing to get back home.
The disastrous event led to its organizer pleading guilty to wire fraud and settling a class-action civil suit.
McFarland claimed he has an “ideal location” in mind for a sequel to that event, which was postponed indefinitely last week. It’s founder thinks another attempt to put the event together would best be handled by someone who can build on what he started.
“To the supporters, believers, and builders who’ve stuck with my team and me: thank you,” McFarland wrote Wednesday. “We will pick the new group based on their ability to execute the vision of FYRE in a transparent, grand, and expeditious manner. The next chapter of FYRE will be bigger, better, and built to last without me at the helm.”
