Fyre Festival creator says the 'most f**ked up' part of scam was lying to investors
The man behind the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival has said lying to investors was the most 'f*cked up' part of his entire plan to pull off the event.
Billy MacFarland, 31, was released early from prison in May 2022 after being given a six-year sentence for multiple counts of fraud.
Fyre Festival promised to be an exclusive and glamorous festival for attendees who were willing to pay thousands for a ticket and accommodation in the Bahamas, but turned out to be a complete shambles with no music, bad food and an insufficient amount of beds.
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MacFarland continued to take money from investors and push for the festival to go ahead despite warnings that it couldn't be done, and he's now claimed that he didn't 'understand the downside' as he marched on with the event.
Speaking on the Full Send Podcast, McFarland, said: "I lied to investors to get money and like morally, ethically as a human, like totally the most f***ed up part. But the worst like business decision was time."
The creator acknowledged that he did have people who were trying to 'speak logic' to him, but explained: "I was kind of caught up in this mindset that like, we have to go really fast. And the downside is there's great artists in a beautiful location, but it's not perfect.
"And I didn't comprehend the downside is that people can't stay there. It's just like not ready. I just like didn't understand the downside."
MacFarland continued: "The biggest business decision was time. I don't know what I was thinking. We launched like a trailer to see if anyone would care and it kinda worked. And then we were like 'alright, four months, we're doing this'," he said.
MacFarland's comments come after he conducted his first interview since leaving prison with Good Morning America earlier this month, when he admitted he was 'wrong' to throw the festival.
He continued: "I messed up. I was so driven by this desperate desire to prove people right. I had these early investors, backers, employees, and I think I was just so insecure that I thought the only way to prove myself to them was to succeed and that led me down this terrible path of bad decisions.”
MacFarland said he needed to 'apologise' for his actions, admitting he 'let people down' and that what he told investors was 'wrong'.
"I think the hardest thing for me is the trust that I violated... whether it was friends, investors, or employees, people gave up a lot to try and make this happen. How do I call them now and look them in the eye when I let them down? I just really should have cancelled everything and stopped lying," he said.
Emily Brown