Fyre Pageant founder Billy McFarland, pictured in 2023, is placing the model up on the market two years after asserting plans for a second occasion.
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The organizer of the failed Fyre Fest and its long-awaited sequel — which was speculated to happen subsequent month — has put the model up on the market.
Founder Billy McFarland introduced Wednesday that the model had grown “larger than anyone individual and larger than what I can lead by myself,” and that it wants a workforce with “scale, expertise and infrastructure” to succeed in its full potential. He mentioned on social media that “it is time to cross the torch.”
“We have now determined one of the best ways to perform our targets is to promote the FYRE Pageant model, together with its logos, IP, digital belongings, media attain, and cultural capital — to an operator that may absolutely notice its imaginative and prescient,” he wrote.
patrons can present their private info and make an open-ended provide by way of a web based type. A disclaimer says individuals who submit gives will get an e-mail with a request for follow-up info, and their “bid will probably be thought of forfeit” if they do not reply inside 24 hours.
McFarland mentioned his workforce will choose the brand new proprietor based mostly on “their capability to execute the imaginative and prescient of FYRE in a clear, grand and expeditious method.”
“The following chapter of FYRE will probably be larger, higher, and constructed to final with out me on the helm,” he added.
The belongings on the market embody not solely Fyre’s identify, mental property and logos, however an unspecified “Caribbean Pageant Location” that McFarland says is able to host Fyre Pageant 2.
McFarland’s announcement confirms that the much-anticipated, repeatedly postponed sequel is not going to happen on Could 30 in Mexico as deliberate.
Doubts about the place — and whether or not — the pageant would occur arose in current weeks, after native governments of two completely different islands, one after one other, publicly denied that they’d be internet hosting it.
Media retailers together with ABC and NBC reported final Wednesday that organizers notified ticket-holders that the occasion was postponed, solely to say a couple of hours later that the present would go on and it will announce a brand new host vacation spot quickly.
McFarland mentioned he has engaged with leaders from a number of Caribbean locations which have already approached him about internet hosting the pageant. However plainly work will proceed with out him.
“Giving management of the model to a brand new group is essentially the most accountable method to comply with by way of on what we got down to do: construct a worldwide leisure model, host a secure and legendary occasion, and proceed to pay restitution to those that are owed from the primary pageant,” McFarland wrote.
How did we get right here?
Wednesday’s abrupt announcement is the most recent flip in a saga that started in earnest in April 2017, when the unique Fyre Pageant imploded.
The occasion was marketed — by a solid of big-name influencers and celebrities — as a glamorous music pageant on a secluded Bahamian island with luxurious lodging. However when attendees arrived on Nice Exuma for the inaugural weekend, they have been met with a scene of complete chaos.
Their luxurious lodging turned out to be unfinished FEMA tents, and connoisseur meals was really boxed cheese sandwiches.
Most of the scheduled artists — a lineup together with Blink-182, Migos, and Main Lazer — had already canceled their performances. Attendees discovered themselves stranded on a distant — and, by design, “cashless” — island, with out insufficient safety, medical care, meals, lodging, bogs or transportation.
Organizers rapidly supplied refunds and an apology, with McFarland telling Rolling Stone that “we have been a bit naïve in considering for the primary time we may do that ourselves.” However that did not stem the fallout, which included a number of lawsuits, dueling documentaries and felony expenses.
Tons of of ticket-holders filed a category motion lawsuit towards occasion organizers, which they settled for $2 million in 2021. McFarland was sentenced to 6 years in jail after pleading responsible to 2 counts of wire fraud associated to the pageant.
He was launched two years early in 2022 however nonetheless owes $26 million in restitution. McFarland rapidly turned his consideration to rebooting the pageant. He mentioned on Wednesday that Fyre Pageant 2 was “about two issues: ending what I began and making issues proper.”
What’s occurring with the pageant?
The trail to Fyre Pageant 2 has been bumpy for years.
McFarland first unveiled his plans in 2023, for a pageant slated to happen in December 2024. He then introduced in September 2024 that the pageant would happen over three days in April 2025 on an unnamed “non-public island off the coast of Mexico.”
McFarland advised the TODAY Present that he would not be dealing with logistics this time round, saying he had “an unbelievable manufacturing firm who’s dealing with every little thing from soup to nuts.”
Whereas particulars on expertise and site have been scarce, McFarland mentioned the pageant would have extra than simply music (“for instance, karate fight”). He talked of excursions like scuba diving and “tremendous costly” cheese sandwiches, paying homage to the 2017 version.
Tickets went on sale in February 2025, even earlier than a lineup was introduced.
Ticket costs began at $1,400, in keeping with Selection, however excessive rollers may pay $5,000 for VIP entry, $25,000 for artist entry and $1.1 million for the “Prometheus God of Fyre” package deal (which included a four-stateroom yacht and personal chauffeur service).
The web site mentioned on the time that the pageant could be held on Isla Mujeres, a tropical island off Cancún, Mexico. However inside days, the native authorities was disputing that.
“We have now no information of this occasion, nor contact with any individual or firm about it,” Edgar Gasca, from the tourism directorate of Isla Mujeres, advised the Guardian when requested about it in late February. “For us, that is an occasion that doesn’t exist.”
Organizers modified course, asserting on Instagram — after which at a press convention — in late March that the pageant could be held within the coastal resort city of Playa Del Carmen. However they have been foiled as soon as once more in early April when Playa del Carmen Metropolis Corridor posted on social media: “There will probably be no occasion known as ‘Fyre 2’ in Playa del Carmen.”
The submit mentioned there have been no data or plans to point such an occasion was being held inside the municipality. McFarland rapidly fired again on social media, saying Fyre had been working straight with the native authorities since early March and sharing varied screenshots of what he known as “permits, funds and communications.”
Two weeks later, attendees obtained messages about postponement and refunds. Pageant spokesperson Nick Lawson mentioned in an announcement reported by the Washington Put up that the occasion wouldn’t begin in Playa del Carmen on Could 30 in spite of everything, however insisted that “FYRE Pageant 2 remains to be on.”
“We’re vetting new areas and can announce our host vacation spot quickly,” the assertion mentioned. “Our priorities stay unchanged: delivering an unforgettable, secure, and clear expertise.”
McFarland mentioned Wednesday that “following the challenges we confronted in Mexico,” his workforce dove into the method of discovering a brand new venue, conducting web site visits and assembly with officers. He mentioned they’re assured they’ve “discovered the perfect location for the pageant” — underneath new management.
“Whereas I am extremely excited, I can not danger a repeat of what occurred in Playa Del Carmen, the place assist rapidly became public distancing as soon as media consideration intensified,” McFarland mentioned. “For FYRE Pageant 2 to succeed, it is clear that I have to step again and permit a brand new workforce to maneuver ahead independently, bringing the imaginative and prescient to life on this unbelievable island.”
