Fyre Festival 2 ticket holders react after last minute cancellation: “Billy McFarland must really love and miss prison”

Billy McFarland

With Fyre Fest 2 officially postponed, many have taken to social media to share their lack of surprise.

Less than two months before it was due to take place, Fyre Fest 2 was put on ice earlier this week. Initially scheduled to take place from May 30 until June 2 in Mexico, tickets went on sale in February, and doubt was soon cast on the highly scrutinised “sequel” to 2017’s infamously botched Fyre Fest.

News of the cancellation was first shared in an email to ticketholders and those who had signed up for the Fyre Festival newsletter, with ABC News later breaking the story publicly.

In their notice to ticket holders, festival bosses wrote: “The event has been postponed and a new date will be announced. We have issued you a refund. Once the new date is announced, at that time, you can repurchase if it works for your schedule.”

Organisers are said to be insisting the festival is still on, with The Independent reporting that new locations were being vetted, however, many on social media aren’t convinced.

While nobody is surprised that the second iteration of the festival went south, many are shocked anyone bought tickets a second time around. Referencing the festival’s founder, who was released from prison in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud, one X/Twitter user wrote: “Billy McFarland must really love and miss prison. There are no refunds for Fyre Festival 2 morons who already gave the scammer their money.”

As yet, McFarland has not issued a public statement following the postponement announcement.

Others took a different approach to the news, blaming buyers rather than McFarland. “If you are dumb enough to buy a ticket to Fyre Festival after everything, you deserve what’s coming to you,” added one user, with another saying: “I say this with the utmost respect: if you purchased tickets to Fyre Festival 2, you literally deserve to lose your money.”

Back in February, it was announced that the festival would be taking place in Isla Mujeres, a tropical island off Cancún, Mexico. However, the tourist board and local officials soon claimed that no such festival exists. Edgar Gasca, from the tourism directorate of Isla Mujeres, said, “We have no knowledge of this event, nor contact with any person or company about it. For us, this is an event that does not exist.”

Then, it was revealed earlier this month  that the permit founder Billy McFarland had obtained – as seen in his timeline of events – only allows for a 12-hour listening party that must have fewer than 300 people.

According to the documents, it seems that the permit only allows for a maximum of 250 people, can only run for a total of 12hours (between midnight to 4am each day between May 30 and June 1), and does not allow for any live performances.

When McFarland first said that Fyre Festival was making its comeback, he shared at a press conference that it would allow for 1,800 guests and feature live performances from 40 artists.

No talent was announced for the rumoured event yet, although former NFL star Antonio Brown claimed that he had been booked for the festival. Ahead of the rumoured second instalment, a former Fyre Festival investor Andy King also warned of “a lot of red flags” over the event’s planned reboot.

The botched festival Fyre Fest was originally developed eight years ago and was set to run over two weekends on a private beach in the Bahamas. It was revealed to be fraudulent once punters arrived on the scene, with inadequate conditions and a lack of food and water.

The debacle was then captured in the now-iconic Netflix documentary FYRE.

The original edition in 2017 was reportedly set to include performances from Blink-182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Migos, Pusha T, Tyga and more.

The post Fyre Festival 2 ticket holders react after last minute cancellation: “Billy McFarland must really love and miss prison” appeared first on NME.

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