Fyre Festival is back with tickets for $8,000 as Netflix conman freed from jail
The controversial Fyre Festival is making a comeback — and tickets are set to cost staggering sums of money.
The festival's co-founder and co-host, Billy McFarland, made the announcement that the fraudulent festival, which inspired a hit Metflix festival, will return in 2024 with tickets costing as much as £7,999.
McFarland, who was released from prison last year for defrauding investors in the first disastrous Fyre Festival in 2017, has published a 50-page business plan explaining how he plans to resurrect the event.
Announcing his alleged new venture on Sunday in a YouTube video, McFarland said the event, which is being called Fyre Festival II, will be held in the Caribbean sometime near the end of 2024. No specific dates, locations or the festival's much-anticipated lineup have been announced.
Tents serving cheese sandwiches were what greeted guests at Fyre Festival instead of the luxury promised (Prahl / Lee / Splash News)The prices, however, have been revealed — and they aren't cheap. The first 100 tickets are being sold for a whopping $499 each, and as the sale progresses through each stage, each set of 100 and later, 50, tickets increase in price by increments of up to $1,000. The most expensive tickets are just under $8,000 each.
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The festival's website states that the sales are "coming soon," as is more information on the event.
Adorned with AirPods and a plush white robe, McFarland told his YouTube viewers that it's a "big day" and that it had been "the absolute wildest journey" to get to his announcement. He'd been working with the "best partners in the world," he said, and "spoke to people as far away as the Middle East and South America" before he opted to host the festival in the Caribbean.
One of the lackluster sandwiches served at Fyre Festival (Collect)It ultimately boiled down to his "ability to bring people from around the world together to make the impossible happen," he added.
Before the big event, he said there would be pop-ups around the world. He ended the video by telling viewers: "Guys, this is your chance to get in. This is everything I've been working towards. Let's f***ing go."
The 2024 event will essentially be McFarland's attempt at redemption after he was hit with charges of defrauding investors and committing wire fraud in 2017 after the first event, which he launched with rapper Ja Rule. He was released from prison in 2022.
Guests at the first Fyre Festival were excited upon arrival before they found out the reality of the event (Prahl/Lee Splash News)The infamous 2017 festival was advertised as a luxury extravaganza with gourmet dining but ended up comprising of FEMA tents with cheese sandwiches. The ordeal was turned into two separate documentaries: "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened" on Netflix and "Fyre Fraud" on Hulu.
Back in 2022, McFarland was sent to a halfway house after his release, then was recently placed on supervised release. His lawyer, Jason Russo, told USA Today at the time that McFarland was trying to raise money for restitution for everyone affected. McFarland apologised for the ordeal in November on Good Morning America.
Ja Rule announced that he would not be involved with the followup, reported PEOPLE.
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