The Fyre Festival Fiasco | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeartRadio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's. here with us, too. So, this is a. straight-ahead episode of Stuff You. Should Know, the podcast. That's right. And today we're discussing the Fyre. Festival. Uh the festival that never happened, F Y. R E. Yeah. Of which there were two.

documentaries made, and I'm pretty. positive I. saw both of them back when they came. out. Ooh la la. I only saw one. Yeah, which one did you see? I saw the Netflix one. Yeah, I think I. saw both of them cuz I I was like, "I. don't want to miss anything.". Right. Right. Uh yeah, I I I think I got. the gist of it from the Netflix one. It. was I saw it essentially when it came. out, so I haven't seen it in a little. while, but I did an awful lot of reading. about this, and a lot of stuff came.

back. That's right. Uh we're going to. kind of let it unfold as it happened, or. as it didn't happen, rather. Uh-huh. Uh. which means I guess we should start with. the the organizer. of this uh musical festival that was. not. Right? Yeah. Yeah, Mr. William Z. Billy McFarland. This guy. Yeah, this guy. That's another way to. put it. Yeah. Yeah, he was um born in uh New. York in '91. He's a millennial through. and through.

And uh he was uh essentially a rich kid. I don't know that he was like fabulously. wealthy. I don't have that impression, but he was his family was pretty. well-to-do. They were real estate. developers in New York, which is really. kind of all you need to know. But he was. brought up in like a nice suburb in New. Jersey. Um and he seemed to have had the. there So, what you need to know about. this guy is he is a business-minded cat. Yes. That's what he wants to do. He wants to. create successful businesses, startups.

He's got the whole dot-com bug. essentially. >> Um and apparently, so there's a an. author, a journalist named Gabrielle. Bluestone, who wrote a book on um the. Fyre Festival. And she she chronicles um. Billy McFarland. creating his first company in the fifth. grade, a web posting company, whatever that is. Not web hosting? No, posting. >> Yeah. So, putting stuff on the web, that. was his business model, I guess. And uh he had he said that he had three.

full-time adult employees in India. working for his company, what which he. was which he founded in the fifth grade. That's right. Uh apparently, in that. same book, and the name of the book, by. the way, is Hype {colon}. uh Inside the Fyre Festival and the. Golden Age of Grift. Mhm. Uh and in that. book, she also says that he he claims, at least, that he sold start and sold. three companies while still in high. school. Yeah. Although, that hasn't been. verified, but I wouldn't be surprised. because this guy. loves starting companies, it seems like.

Yeah, so um the first verifiable company. that he started was while he was. attending Bucknell University, or. Bucknell. Um he dropped out in 2011 to work uh. more on a social media platf- It's a It. was an online ad platform that actually. had some pretty big advertisers. He. called it Spling, s p l i n g. And um he dropped out, but not before he. got like a $5,000. like um. essentially a a little.

scholarship prize, I guess, um for uh. venture capital, like $5,000 venture. capital seed from Bucknell University. He said, "Thank you very much. I'm. dropping out." And then he started. generating investment from investors as. diverse as uh the CFO of a pharma. company to actual like private equity. companies. Yeah, I mean, the guy had a. knack for drawing investors, that's for. sure. I think uh if I'm doing quick. math, 450,

475, plus a little juice from Cornell, like. 400 close to 500 grand he got for this. uh Spling startup. >> Yeah. And you know, uh. he did that for a little while. I guess. uh that was a couple of years cuz in. 2013. he started something new. He abandoned. Spling and started And this is covered. in the documentary, the credit card. company. uh Magnises, m a g n i s e s, which was. a credit card. He He was like, "Hey, I'm.

going to start a a new credit card. No. one's done that in a while, and it's. going to be metal, and it's going to. look cool, and we're going to kind of uh. you know, take from what the Soho House. did uh kind of literally in that they. opened a loft in Soho in New York and. said, 'You've got a membership here, you. can come to these cool parties, and you. can get like the whole the thing was. beyond just having this. um sort of fancy credit card that made. you um stand apart from the crowd in. that crowd. Uh you could also supposedly.

get um like advanced reservations when. they were impossible to get or get into. the club that was impossible to get into. if you had this card. Yeah. It was like. the players with yourself card. Yeah. So, here's here's the first flash. of um what you need to know about Billy. McFarland. The Magnises card, it was. very cool. The whole thing was set up. pretty neatly, but it was not a credit. card. What it did was you took your Bank. of America or Wells Fargo debit card,

and it um. it copied the information from the. magnetic strip onto the magnetic strip. of your Magnises. So, essentially what. you had was a cool metal, I believe. black. version of your Wells Fargo debit card, and that that's that was it. Well, aside from the membership in the. Soho loft and the supposed perks that. came along to getting into the clubs and. things. That's why people got it. Here's. the problem with that. They they weren't.

able to deliver on what those perks. were. Yeah, not not at all. And this is, you. know, kind of the first in a series of. stories about over-promising and. under-delivering, to say the least. For. sure. So, um here's also where um it. starts to become a bit of a Ponzi. scheme. Magnuses seems to have been like. um his heart was in that one. So, he was. really um he was spending a lot more. money than he was taking in. I think I. saw at its peak it had 700 members, and.

that was it. Um but so he was just just spending way. too much money to keep that company. afloat. So, he's like, "All right, I'm. going to start another company, and then. I can use the revenue from that company. to keep Magnuses afloat and keep my. investors happy, and uh I'm going to. call this new company Fire Media, f y r. e." Yeah. And it actually was. kind of a clever idea. It was a talent. booking app for anybody. Like, if you. had the money, you could get in touch.

with, say, off the top of my head, rapper Ja Rule, and say, "Hey, man, I'm. throwing a really ill party, and I want. you to perform there. How much do you. want?" And he would say, "This is how. much I want." And you would pay him and. book him, and you didn't have to use any. promoters, or you didn't have to know. anybody. All you had to do was have this. Fire app. And um like I think it was a. good idea, uh but he created that almost. exclusively to keep Magnuses propped up. Keep that in mind.

Yeah. Um. yeah, I'm going to withhold judgment on. whether or not I think that was a cool. idea. Okay. But but I'm glad you did. Sure. I said clever. I don't think I. said cool. Did I say cool? Oh, you said. cool more than once, pal. >> Okay. Well, it's a cool idea. All right. I'll stand behind that. All right, great. So, um you're right. He was doing. that to keep Magnuses afloat. Uh. he was using those corporate uh cards, which again were just reskinned debit. cards of his own employees, of the.

employees of Fyre, uh to fund the. Magnuses events, and they were left to put the bill. There was this one guy in the. documentary, I think his name was uh. M. David Lowe, and he says that he was. left $200,000 in debt. And he was an. employee. Right. So, uh that that should. give you an idea of how this guy's going. to end up treating um. concert-goers that he doesn't even know, uh which is what would kind of you know. happen next essentially when he said, "All right, uh I need some uh more cash.

basically. Fyre Media um really needs to. take off in order to save Magnuses." And. so, a music festival, those things make. tons of money, right, guys? That's a. great way to make dough. And so, that. was the next big idea. Yeah. So, essentially this Fyre. Festival, which is the crux of our. story, was a. an idea that uh was meant to promote the. Fyre app, which was created to fund and.

keep afloat the Magnuses fake credit. card. All right. So, here we are in the. fall of 2016, and uh he wants to throw. this thing in the spring of 2017. So, keep that timeline in mind. Um he that's about 6 months to throw a. major music festival. uh in the Bahamas. Um I don't know anything about throwing. a major music festival. So, uh. I'm a novice, but that seems like a. pretty short time span to me. I actually. don't really know much about throwing a. music festival, either. But, I did see.

in a few um. a few articles covering this that Uh. experts essentially, people who have. thrown them, say you you want 12 months. minimum to to to do this. Or maybe they. said you need usually on average 12. months. From the outset, from the time. that he decided to do this, he gave. himself the 6 months. And then as we'll. see, he actually gave himself way, way. less than that to actually organize this. thing because. the Fyre Festival was built entirely on.

hype in the first several months of the. project were given exclusively to. figuring out how to hype this project. that hadn't even been planned or. organized yet. This is so fiery. Yeah, so he uh you mentioned Ja Rule, he. was involved in this as well. Mhm. Uh. hip-hop artist Ja Rule. He was um. he was sort of the main face of the. thing, like definitely the biggest name. that he got involved, I think, unless. like you're really in the know as far as. like models and influencers go.

Uh and his co- I guess his business. partner was another guy named Grant uh. Margolin. He was a VP of marketing. And right out of the gate, he started. hiring uh PR companies because like you. said, he wanted to create this hype. So, he got legit companies. He got an ad. agency named Jerry Media, mhm, uh PR. firm 42 West, and a media company called. VaynerMedia. And in December of 2016, um he was like, "I I got to get, you. know, something out there that people. can actually see." Right. So, he. contracted with MATTE uh MATTE Projects.

to film a promo video in the Bahamas. where it was going to be held. And. that's about the only thing he ever. actually created. Yeah. And like they really threw a lot. at this. Um. they hired a bunch of, like you said, Instagram models, um Kendall Jenner, uh. Hailey Bieber, Chanel Iman, um and several others. I think there was. like six like legit millennial. supermodels who came out to the Bahamas.

to shoot this this promotional video and. the Matte Projects company like showed. up. They They did a really good job. creating this incredibly slick video. Um but by hiring these Instagram models, they also had a built-in way of just. generating tons of hype when that video. was done and actually even before the. video was done. They're like, "Hey, why. don't you take some of these pics from. the shoot and you know, put them up post. them on your Instagram account just to. kind of get people hyped up about the.

hype that we're creating for the. festival.". Yeah, and you know, what you obviously. don't see in that hype video or the. promo video was. the reality of that which the. documentaries both cover. It was pretty chaotic. There was some. pretty funny scenes in there where they. were trying to get these models to get. in swim in the ocean at night, you know, for the for the shot. Billy referred to the attendees as your. average losers. And it was just you know, it was kind of. a mess, but obviously the result was you. know, beautiful people frolicking in the.

beautiful Bahamas. >> Right. Uh they promised an immersive. experience on a private island. once owned by Pablo Escobar which would. turn out to be a pretty fateful mistake. to say that. Uh but what they didn't. include was stuff like, "Hey, who's. actually going to be playing?". Because they hadn't booked any musical. acts at that point. No. So, if you look. at this very slick video, um none of all. of the music acts are generic. It's all. stock footage of like raves or something.

like that. Really well-produced. good-looking. like stock footage, but not real stuff, right? But so, it was all just kind of. suggested and to give you another idea. of the the way that they were promoting. this. They were saying that Fire. Festival would be a quest to explore. beyond boundaries. Like they used words. like that. And the whole thing the whole. thing was essentially publicized as a. complete luxury event top to bottom. It. was going to be the most amazing luxury.

exclusive music festival anyone has ever. thrown, and that promotional video. really kind of looked like it. So much. so that that was what they used for. marketing from that point forward. through the end of the festival. That. was it. Everything came from that that. photo shoot and video shoot. That's cuz. that's all they had. Right. Right. >> Literally. Yeah. Uh a good time for a. break, I think. >> Yeah, for sure. All right. So, that's. the little set up of what's coming or. not coming your way, and we'll be right. back after this.

All right. So, in order to promote this. video that they had shot, uh they needed. um they needed people to see this. They. needed tons of eyeballs so they could.

sell tons of tickets. >> Mhm. So, they got together with Jerry. Media, and they convinced um all these. influencers at the same time on December. 12th, 2016 on their socials to post uh. an orange tile, just an orange square. Mhm. I think they got like 400 plus. people. And that would direct people to. the website and the promo video and. everything, and a lot of people did. this, like athletes, musicians, models, and it actually went viral. Like it. really really worked. It was That was. actually a pretty good idea. And people.

started buying tickets, like thousands. of people started plunking down money. Yeah, I think I saw that they were like. 98% sold out like almost immediately. So, it really was a great idea paying. all those influencers to do that. And. so, great. Now we've got the Fyre. Festival ready to go. Like you got. tickets sold, you've got um the promo. materials out there, you have all these. influencers generating all this buzz, and he got one more boost. He paid. Kendall Jenner a quarter of a million. dollars to put one post on Instagram.

about it, and I didn't see the post, but. apparently she intimated that the. like she left it open to people's. imagination the possibility that Kanye. West would be performing there cuz. remember he was her brother-in-law at. the time. Yeah. And of course Kanye West. never had anything to do with it, but if. you word things a certain way then could. leave it to people's imagination and let. them think what they want kind of thing, right? So, that was like the nail the. final nail. They're like this is this is. great. We're going to do this, and let's.

start figuring this out. Yeah, and by figuring out it was. February, and remember they were trying. to do this thing in the spring, right? Which I don't know if that means I don't. know when spring is in the Bahamas. I. don't know if they consider May spring. But, let's generously say they even. consider May spring. >> Okay. Uh it's late February, and that. that's when they started planning the. actual logistics of this festival. Like, how are we actually going to do this? Um. they didn't have.

accommodations at all. They promised. luxury accommodations. >> Right. Um these were going to range from. glamping tents to private villas. None. of these things existed yet because they. didn't even have a site secured because. they had uh mentioned that it was Pablo. Escobar's island at one point. This was. Norman's Cay, and the owner of that. island was like, "I don't like you. mentioning Pablo Escobar in association. with my island. See, you can't have it. here." So, they didn't even have a place. in February. >> No, they shot themselves in the foot in. just not putting.

it on Pablo Escobar's private island or. formerly belonging to Pablo Escobar, however they said it. If they just had not done that, this. might be a completely different story. Maybe. >> At least it would have been a little bit. of a a story. It actually could have. been worse, frankly, now that I think. about it. But, they finally found a. spot. Um there was another thing, too. Like, if the the um web archive like has. some of the pages of the original Fyre. Festival site. And if you go on like the packages. thing, they're like up to a quarter of a.

million dollar packages for like three. nights on yachts and stuff. And they. even named the yachts. They had no bargains, deals, talks. whatsoever with the owners of any of. those yachts. And these guys were. selling quarter of a million dollar. packages involving these yachts that. they had no access to, right? So, they. were really scrambling for all this. And. one of the first things they had to do. was find a replacement for Norman's Cay. And they finally found one on the.

charming uh area known as Roker Point on. Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas. That's right. It's not a private island. at all. So, out of the gate, they've. already under-delivered. Sure. Um it was. an undeveloped plot of land. Uh. apparently it's pretty pretty rocky. It. was been It's been described as a gravel. pit. And if you see the um documentaries in. the actual footage, you know, it doesn't. look like anything that's capable of. hosting, even if you knew what you were. doing, hosting a concert event like. this.

Uh and they had 45 days to do it, to. build this like, you know, village. essentially. Uh they're you know, they're trying to. replicate like the Coachellas and all. these things that literally kind of go. out in the middle of nowhere and build a. or like Burning Man and build a village. >> Okay. And they had 45 days to do this. Uh so, he hired hundreds of locals um to. put up, you know, IKEA furniture. essentially. And try and get these. things going, get these tents built, these glamping tents. And I think what uh one of uh. McFarland's big errors that um well, he.

started way too late, first of all. And. And who knows if he ever even, you know, planned on getting this thing off the. ground to begin with. But, he didn't. realize there's something called island. time. Uh if you've ever been to the Caribbean, or it's probably like this at islands. all over the world or or uh, just beach. towns in general, things just move. slower. Like you can't go into a a. restaurant on a Caribbean island and. like start complaining that the service. is slow. And that's from like. restaurants all the way to everything. Everything just moves a little slower.

and at its own pace. Yeah, you're meant. to kind of downshift a couple of. um, gears as well to kind of mellow out. That's the point. >> Yeah. Don't bring that aggro like city. stuff there. Not to island time. >> No. So, yeah. I think what you're saying in. a very roundabout way is that the the. things that needed to get done for the. festival did not get done. Um, just as a. little aside that'll come up later, there's a woman named Maryanne Rolle who. owns a local catering company that the. Fyre Festival hired to feed those.

workers. And she made as many as a. thousand meals a day during these I. think 45 days while these workers were. working from day one up through I think. up to like the day before the Fyre. Festival. So, just put that in your hat. and smoke it later. Yeah, for sure. Um, so they are having. big cash flow issues despite the fact. that all these people had paid all kinds. of money for these tickets already. >> Mhm. And so he starts um, what he calls the.

Fyre Tour, these little pop-up concerts. or you know, supposed to be pop-up. concerts to promote the festival. >> Right. But most of those don't even go. off. These are supposed to be in cities. all over the world. Most of those end up. uh, canceled. Uh, so you know, he's he's. left without um, a. a source of income basically leading up. to the festival. Which is crazy because. they were selling tons and tons of. tickets, but he had raised so much money. from investors for this and they were. burning through so much money that he.

was like it was gone before it went to. him or got or like. it was gone as soon as it came in from. what I can tell. Um he had came up with another idea. He's like, "Okay, we need a new instant. form of cash flow. How about this? We'll. say that you have to use a RFID bracelet. to spend money there, and you have to. preload money on it, and you better do. it now. So, if you want to be able to. buy anything, say like booze or whatever. on the island, um you have to have this. little bracelet, kind of like Disney. World or something, right?" Um and they.

suggested you put at least $300 for each. day that you're going to be at the. festival, and in the hopes that people. would just start loading the um their. wristbands up. And I think it worked to. some degree, but there was no amount of. cash coming in at this point to cover. the what the investors had put in, and. apparently even to cover the the the. anything that the festival had. delivered, except for there is a place. in the Bahamas that um we will try to. get you to, and when you show up, that.

place will be there. And it will be lit. Yeah, ill. Uh all right, so. the festival is very close to, you know, the the date is uh impending. >> Mhm. And people start noticing, tickets. holders start noticing like, "You know what? I haven't seen um. anything on Instagram, like you know, usually when there's something like. that, it's like, 'Hey, look at how great. great this place is coming along. Look. how awesome it looks.' It's still just. that one video that they had shot, you. know, back uh in, I guess, early part of.

the year. Um they can't get Worse still, they. can't get information about their. flights. and their accommodations. Like, what. tent am I actually going to be in, or. what villa am I actually going to be in? I want to pick up my room before I get. there.". >> Right. Right. So, um people start questioning. this. There's a guy on Twitter uh named. Calvin Wells who set up Fire Fraud and. just basically tracked all these like. shady things that were going on, or like. questions people had. People started um leaving comments on.

posts about, you know, hyping the Fire. Festival, questioning the whole thing, and. just basically saying this doesn't sound. legit at all. Those things got deleted. by Jerry Media, who was running social. media for the. for the Fire Festival. And then. starting finally the day before the. festival the Fire Media people. essentially reached out to their VIPs. and said, "You should skip the first. weekend. Come the second weekend." Cuz. there was one weekend at the end of. April and there was the next weekend at.

the beginning of May. That was the Fire. two weekends. They're like, "Just come. to the second one. The first one's going. to be a little We're figuring out the. kinks. So don't come to the first one.". Their employees, too, were told like, "Don't come." But the employees are. like, "We already are in Miami waiting. to be shuttled down to the Bahamas. Yeah, if you're telling the staff not to. come. but you've allowed the ticket holders to. come, then you're doing things in the wrong. order. And that's just my opinion. Again, I've. never thrown a music festival. Yeah, and.

that's a really good point, Chuck. They. didn't tell the ticket holders not to. come. No, they didn't. The night before the. festival, their biggest act or I guess. their biggest rock act at least, Blink-182, pulls out of the festival. Somebody smartly in their camp was like, "You don't want to be You're already. unfortunately associated with this, but. you don't want to be any any more of a. part of this than you already are.". >> No, and their their their statement was. classy, too. They just said they're not. sure that they would have all the. resources they needed to put on a.

quality show for their fans. So they. pull out and it starts to rain really. heavy. It was sort of the one of those. moments in the documentary where. insult to injury starts happening. And employees are still I mean. bless their hearts, they're still trying. to set this stuff up. I felt so bad for. the people that worked for this. for Fire Media. because they're they're trying to set up. these tents still. They're unpacking. loading, you know, shipping containers, they're unpacking mattresses, all this. cruddy.

furniture that they had bought at the. last minute. And work eventually halted. because it was just, you know, it was a. rainstorm. It was too bad. So, there. were soggy mattresses left out on the. ground everywhere. And it was, you know, it looked like uh. it looked like. a hurricane had come through and wiped. out what was once a promising thing. Yeah. Yeah, so like imagine like a whole. work. site of people getting ready for the. festival the night before and they were. really behind and everybody's working. hard and then a whole monsoon comes and.

everybody runs for cover and then never. comes back. That's what the Fyre. Festival looked like when the first. guests started to show up. Uh maybe a second break. I feel like. we're right at the precipice. >> I think so, too, man. I can't wait to. hear Blink They already pulled out. I. can't wait to hear the other musical. acts. So, we'll be right back after this.

Okay, Chuck. So, it's festival day. It's. April 28th and on the morning of April. 28th, some of the people started showing. up. There was. supposedly private jet service, but. actually it was just a.

small airline that was shuttling people. from Miami's airport down to the Bahamas. and the first group showed up the. morning of April 28th and the festival. organizers were like, "We have to figure. out what to do with these people. It's. not ready yet." So, they got them on a. shuttle, like a bus. They drove them to. a local bar and said, "The bar's open. Everybody help yourself.". Yeah, there's a school bus, too. Just. keep that in mind. Not that it matters. A bus is a bus, but there are nicer. buses buses than others.

>> True. Especially in the Caribbean, sure. And. this was a school bus. Okay. Maybe a Blue Bird, who knows? Those are. pretty nice. The Blue Birds are Yeah, they're top quality. So, uh. they they send them there. Uh they tried. in vain, I guess, to initially, at. least, actually assign tents to people. Um cuz it wasn't like there wasn't one. tent set up. They had gotten a little. bit done. Uh but there were hundreds of. people there kind of wondering what to. do and where to go. And so much so that. Billy, who was there, Billy McFarland,

actually got up on a table and said, "Just go find a tent, pick up your own. tent, and take it to a place and set it. up." And some of those people were game. enough to like, "Well, it's not going. off well, but at least we can get a tent. and find a good spot." And so they tried. to starting to do that. Yeah, I don't. remember it from the documentary, but it. apparently there was like that just. opened the floodgates for people making. a mad rush to grab a tent before. somebody else grabbed it. For sure. And the tents, by the way, we. should say So, remember you mentioned.

glamping? Like not everybody was buying. the quarter of a million-dollar yacht. package. Um the you could get tickets. for, you know, several hundred dollars, and that's what these tents were. But. they were supposed to still be like. really nice tents. I saw that they were. leftover FEMA tents from Hurricane. Matthew. Um and that that's what had been set up. for these people. And not even set up, in most cases. Like you said, they kind. of had to finish setting these things up. themselves and drag the wet mattresses. into their tent. So, this is how the.

Fire Festival is starting at this point. Yeah, they didn't have their luggage, so. they started inquiring about that. And. so, uh they started, you know, just. dumping their suitcases out onto the. beach uh from the shipping containers. And just other supplies. And basically. it it turned into. complete chaos. They just started. dumping supplies on the ground and. saying cuz people were revolting and. saying, "Take care of yourself. Like there's the. stuff. Have at it." It's frequently. compared to like um rich millennial Lord.

of the Flies. Yeah. So um one other thing that that. they were that the festival organizers. were doing was they were getting. everybody super drunk. There there was. one thing in great supply and for free. and that was booze. They had like shot. girls walking around getting getting. everybody super wasted on tequila. Like. everyone was starting to get really. really drunk and they were doing that to. kind of keep everybody distracted from. just how horrible this thing was. Yeah, but that's also not a great idea.

to add alcohol to a volatile situation, you know. >> Exactly. No, it's not. It was a very. irresponsible thing to do and it just. shows all of the incredibly short-term. thinking that went into every stage of. this including the actual festival. itself. Yeah, for sure. So uh maybe the. worst part of about all this is they. couldn't um a lot of people were like, "This is a disaster. I want to get out. of here." They couldn't just get out of. there cuz it was the same weekend as um. something called the National Family.

Regatta. It's a really big event. And. all you know, most of the hotels were. booked up. Most of the flights were. booked up. So people were basically. stranded down there. Uh I I think eventually they were even. um. like locked in the airport overnight. like when everything was closed. It. wasn't like one of those airports that. still has stuff open overnight. >> Right. They they were locked in with a. chain and a padlock and there was no AC. They weren't left with any water or. food. And remember, everybody by this.

time who's made it to the airport has. been drinking all day. So now they're. starting to sober up and they're. hungover locked into this hot airport. without any food or water. So it's a. really bad jam by this point. Even. before that, when they started when it became clear. like, "Wait a minute, there's some a lot. of stuff wrong here." Remember, these. kids are like all on Instagram and. Twitter and all sorts of social media. And they. immediately started alerting the world, "Fyre Festival is a total fraud." And.

one of the the most. iconic photos that came out of this is a. Styrofoam to-go container opened up with. a slice of bread, a piece of cheese. askew on that slice of bread, another. slice of bread askew on the piece of. cheese, a pile of lettuce, a tomato, and. some sort of oily. condiment covering the lettuce and. tomato. And they said, "This is the star. catered food that we were supposed to. get. This is the food that they're. giving us at Fyre Festival.".

Yeah, you know, by this point they had. already officially postponed the. festival. They came out and said, "It's. it's due to circumstances out of their. control.". They had which the only thing of which. that happened that was out of their. control is the rain, I suppose. But, they officially did postpone it, but. word had gotten around via social media. and. at least I think a lot of people, you. know, canceled their plans and didn't. actually make it down there. >> Yeah. But, you know, people started poking.

around about Billy McFarland and what. really happened. The media got involved. and they were like, "Hey, this is more. than just a an idea that, you know, good. idea that didn't work out. Like, we. think actual crimes have been. committed." So, over the course of a. couple of years, they realized that he. had committed actual financial crimes. and that's what he ends up going to. prison for. Billy McFarland served. prison time for this. He did. So, the. ticket holders and and I said before.

that they were generally portrayed as. rich millennials who like to go to music. festivals. There were definitely plenty. of those there. This is like meant to be. an Instagrammable event, but there also. plenty of people who like just weren't. rich, and they weren't because actually. in some cases it was a good deal. For. like eight or nine hundred dollars, you. could get eight friends together and. cover, um, um, air travel, uh, food, um, accommodations, and three days of music.

at a music festival. It's actually not a. bad deal. So, some people like really. spent like money that they needed on. this, and they got screwed over. Um, all. the vendors, the the people who, um, who. worked, all those people went unpaid, but it was the investors who were the. ones who, um, the court ordered people. to pay or court ordered McFarland to pay. back. Yeah, and, you know, I know at the time. it was it was, um, seemed funny to make fun of this and the. people that, you know, these, like you,

what do you say? They were rich. millennials, but like they spent money, and they deserved to have a thing go off. like they wanted to. If that's the way. they wanted to spend their time, it's. not my deal. But like I don't think it's. funny that anybody gets scammed out of. money, you know? Yeah, no, there was a a. tremendous amount of Schadenfreude by by. people who are not rich millennials or. on Instagram or just hate that whole. Instagram life kind of thing. Um, there was a there were a lot of. memes that came out of it. Um, the that.

basically portrayed this as like it. immediately descended into anarchy, and. they started eating each other, and, um, yeah, again, kind of Lord of the. Flies-esque. But again, it was just the investors who. were, um, meant to be paid back. Which I think. says quite a bit about a lot of stuff. The he actually was taken down on. Securities and Exchange Commission SEC. charges. So, he had a federal beef against him. And essentially what the court concluded. is that he bilked 80 investors out of 24.

million dollars. just for the Fire Festival. I saw that. he was on the hook for another another. 10 million 12 million dollars for the. other stuff including the Magnises um. scams essentially. Um so. if this guy is basically like you have. the rest of your life to pay this back. and that's what you're going to have to. do. And on top of it, he was sentenced. to 6 years in federal prison.

Yeah, so you know, he did this by. allegedly lying about almost everything. financially related to this whole thing. and including himself. >> Yeah. Uh he said he had $2 million in. Facebook shares personally. Uh he had. about $1,000 worth. He said the Fire. Media app was taking in millions of. dollars a month. Uh. over the whole lifetime of the Fire. Media app, it made about $60,000. >> Right. So in addition to him being on the hook, uh like you know, with with the law uh.

and like the SEC. he's on the hook with personal lawsuits. So a lot of people. there was a class action lawsuits for. $100 million. Like everyone got together. of course and sued him. >> Mhm. Ticket holders and then they were. like, "Hey, we should sue these ad. agencies too because they're. collaborating with these people. They're. putting out like literal false. information. and in some cases they're deleting. negative comments about the truth of. this thing. So a lot of these lawsuits got. dismissed.

Others did go through and were. successful. >> Yeah. I think the class action. the ticket holders were reimbursed. Uh. who knows if they ever got it, but uh at. least they were awarded $7,000 each. which is you know, pretty good. Yeah, they did not get it and they probably. never will get it because as part of the. federal sentencing guidelines, the. investors are to get every penny of. their $24 million back first before. anybody else starts to get paid. Vendors, ticket holders, anybody else. So, one question that I.

saw that was not asked. almost anywhere. I think I found one. article that asked it cuz I was looking. to find out what happened. Where did all. the money go? He certainly did not spend. $24 million on the Fyre Festival, not by. a long shot. And in the documentary, they basically portrayed it as like, well, he was just living it up. And he. was, for sure. I still would guess not. $24 million in 6 months living it up. So, I can't help but wonder if he's got. money stashed somewhere, or if he really.

did just blow through $24 million in 6. months. creating this Fyre Festival that was. totally fraudulent. Yeah, I'm not going to speculate. I. don't want to get sued. Yeah, yeah. I'm not speculating. I'm I'm. questioning. I I I really do wonder what. happened. Yeah, who knows, but uh that's a lot of. dough, that's for sure. Um after he was. arrested while he was out on bail, he. started another company. called NYC VIP Access. Uh he was like, I.

can't be the face of this thing cuz. everyone knows what I look like and my. name by this point. >> Right. So, we hired a guy named Frank. Tribble um to kind of be the face of the. company. And he used the Fyre Festival. mailing list. You know, a mailing list. can be a very valuable thing. Sometimes. companies are bought just because they. have an extensive mailing list. And. they'll just shutter the company and use. that contact point. Uh but he actually. used the Fyre Festival mailing list. uh offering tickets to things that don't. even sell tickets a lot of times, like.

the the Met Gala in New York City. Fashion Week. And uh I think that Fyre Festival. mailing list may have been his undoing. there because uh. that was added to his list of criminal. charges as well, that VIP Access scam. >> Yeah, it was again, it was another scam. And um this guy who he hired to front. it, Frank Tribble, he still lists. himself as the CEO of New York NYC VIP. Access um on Instagram, I believe. And. he also offers discounted AirPods in the.

bio of his Instagram account. Nice. Get a good deal on some AirPods. So, um. Billy McFarland, I think he served. four of his six years. He was definitely. let out early. Uh he was also. transferred to a low-security prison in. Ohio. Yeah, he tried to get out of. prison. when COVID happened. Hm. Um is what they. call it like a medical uh benevolence. release or whatever uh because he said. he had asthma and that COVID would. probably kill him. And so they moved him. into solitary uh during that time, did.

not let him out then, and he did get. COVID Oh, really? uh while he was in. prison, but he didn't die. He did some. other um solitary stints for for. breaking the rules like he um smuggled a. recording device into the prison and. then used it to launch a podcast, I. guess assuming that they the warden. didn't listen to podcasts. Um Low-hanging fruit. Yeah. And he was released early. I don't know. how many years early. He was sentenced. to six years, and I think he did four, maybe five, but he definitely got out.

early. And the first thing he did when. he got out, almost the first thing, was. he announced that there would be a Fyre. Festival 2. Yeah, uh Fyre 2 has not happened, but he. did finally. um. host and organize and I guess. um successfully pull off a music. festival last year on Utila Bay. Uh the. he loves these shortened sort of. misspelled things. He I guess he chose. PHNX.

>> Yeah. Uh PHNX uh I assuming because the. phoenix rose from the ashes. >> Oh, yeah. Much like Billy McFarland did, but that one actually went down. I went. and looked at it, and I. uh I hadn't heard of a single performer, but that doesn't mean that they were not. noteworthy. It's just uh there's tons of. music out there now that I don't know. about so they may all be great. >> Well, so the one that I saw that I. recognized the name of was French. Montana and he's a pretty big name. He. was a big big fish to land and he did. show up and he did perform but I was.

checking it out too. There was a live. stream that you could pay $4.99 to watch. this music festival. And so it's all. very. highly documented and you can see. there's like handfuls of people who who. are attending this music festival. Like. when French Montana is like you know, somebody say yeah, like he gets nothing. in response and like it was just yes, it. was not good. They were they were. apparently letting in locals. This is in. Honduras letting in locals for free and.

encouraging them to come for free just. to kind of fill out the the crowd a. little bit. So but like you said, he did. successfully hold a music festival. But. I I saw that he's out of the Fire. Festival game because he sold the brand. Did you see anything on that? Uh well, yeah, I saw that he sold the. brand. >> He sold it on eBay, Chuck. >> For like a couple of hundred grand or. something? >> Yeah, like I think 240 grand. He sold it. on eBay and he sold it to LimeWire. I.

think one of the original. music download disruptor apps. Oh, yeah. So yeah, LimeWire owns the Fire brand. now and if you want a Fire brand mug or. a Fire brand hoodie, you can go look up. Fire Festival and LimeWire and their. site will come right up. I am quite sure that to wear a Fire. Festival hoodie at this point this many. years later would be a very ironic sort. of fun thing to do. >> Definitely. I think that's kind of what. LimeWire is going for.

It's. They they acquired the Mad Magazine of. music festivals. >> Yeah. Yeah, for sure. If you. I don't know about that. Now that I. think about it, no, I'm not going to I'm. not going to sell it. >> to sell any Mad magazine. No way. Um but yeah, they they do offer those. hoodies are $240,000 a piece. Oh, that's. good price. Uh. you got anything else? I got nothing else. I I highly recommend. at least watching one of the. documentaries. They're both about the.

same, I would say. Although we should. say that both of those documentaries. came under scrutiny. uh because they both I think one of them. paid Billy McFarland for an interview. which everyone thought was pretty. untoward to give that guy any money. Uh and the other one was partnered by. one of the PR companies who had scrubbed. social media of negative comments. and they had part and they don't cover. that in the documentary and they were. partnered in that documentary. So that. one was also untoward. Yeah and I the. the Netflix documentary didn't have.

Billy McFarland. They approached him to. be in it and he's like you have to pay. me and they're like no that's not. ethical but Hulu was like sure. Yeah. So okay so that's it. That's all. we have to say about Fyre Festival and. Billy McFarland and I think then it's. time for listener mail Chuck. I'm going to promise this is the last. MacGuffin email. just cuz I like to torture you but. I think this one had the best definition. that it would finally clicks in for. everybody. >> see.

Uh the idea that made it click for me. guys was that an item is MacGuffin if. that item can be substituted. with almost anything else without making. any changes to the plot of the film. It's pretty good definition. Uh that. mysterious briefcase could be a flash. drive with important documents or a. diamond necklace belonging to the royal. family or any number of vaguely valuable. things. The point of the film is the action that. unfolds around that central item. Uh if the plot is centered around. something it isn't about that thing it. is a MacGuffin. In this way both. definitions actually fit. The existence.

or the state of the object is what moves. the whole plot but the object itself. doesn't actually matter. Uh I just thought I'd throw in my two. cents because before I took this film. class that taught me this, I felt the. same about McGuffins as Josh seems to. Thanks for a great show, guys. Been. listening for over 10 years. Learned so. much and have had so many great. conversations inspired by Stuff You. Should Know, and that is from Anna. Hellcamp. Thanks, Anna. Thank you very. much. I saw that definition, essentially. something like that here or there. Still.

don't understand. Really? No, I doesn't Okay, well, then what. isn't a McGuffin? What is not a. McGuffin? I have to know. I don't even know what that means. And what isn't a McGuffin then is. something that it if you could change, it would actually change the plot. >> What? Give me an example. What? Give me. a real-life movie example of what's not. a McGuffin that I will be able to. understand the difference between. McGuffins and things that aren't. McGuffins. I demand it.

All right, well, I'll have to go do some. research on that then. >> All right, so we will do another. McGuffin email sometime down. >> Or or maybe, you know, like the murder. weapon. That's not a McGuffin cuz that actually. matters to the plot. A murder weapon. couldn't be just some other thing. You know what I mean? Yes, but how does How does. >> We're searching We're searching for the. gun that killed them. The whole movie. they're searching for the gun that. killed the person because that is the. central piece that would actually land. the person in prison. Okay. And you can't substitute that for a can.

of Coke. But Okay, then how does the. Where Where again does that Maltese. Falcon fit in? With the No one is doing. anything if the Maltese Falcon isn't. there. >> Falcon, so I can't comment on it. >> But you can replace the Maltese Falcon. with a giant ruby or a flash drive, which would have been weird in that era, but um I think that's why everyone calls. it a McGuffin. Right, but it's not the McGuffin Okay. All right, maybe it is starting to dawn. on me a little bit. Thanks to who? Uh that's from Anna. >> All right, thanks, Anna. I do You to.

hear a. a specific example from a movie of what. is not a MacGuffin. Okay? All right, I'm going to find a. movie where the someone's searching for. a murder weapon cuz that's a great. example, I think. All right. Uh in the meantime, if you want to be. like Anna and send us an email that. where you try to crack through my thick. skull, I'm down for that kind of thing. You can send it off to. stuffpodcast@iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from.

iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. to your favorite shows.