Cast your minds back to December 2016, when the words ‘Fyre Festival’ didn’t mean much to you apart from some social media posts of mega-babes like emily Ratajkowski and Hailey Baldwin flaunting their bodies on an idyllic beach. Back then, we too thought Fyre Festival sounded dreamy. Oh how they fooled us. Like the new Coachella, only better as it was beach-bound (Bahamian Island bound, to be precise), it was billed as “the best weekend of your life”, and had a stellar line-up.
Sounds great, right? Wrong wrong wrong. Fyre Festival is under fire (lol) because it’s what can only be described as an absolute shamble. It branded itself as the ‘cultural experience of the decade,’ but all it will be remembered as is the most epic promotionsl fail, ever.
Those who fell for the insta-influencer hook paid a massive $12, 000 for a ticket and instead of being greeted with white sandy beaches, they were greeted with rubbish heaps, feral dogs, grey food and a remote island with ‘rampant shark’ problems. Vanity Fair managed to get their hands on the original pitch deck, and it’s nothing but laughable. They recruited over 400 ‘Fyre Starters’ with big social media followings (hello Bella Hadid) to promote the hell out of a festival dream that doesn’t exist. Said ‘Fyre Starters’ were given free flights, accommodation and tickets, and some were supposedly even paid. The festival was meant to ‘IGNITE that type of ENERGY, that type of POWER’ in their guests. Instead we’re pretty sure the only thing it ignited was anger and rage. The festival organisers have been accused by attendees of fraud, and are currently being sued for over $100 million.
Bella has taken to her social media to kind of apologise about her participant in the festival promotion. Claiming: ‘even though this was not my project what so ever, nor was I informed about the production or process of the festival in any shape or form, I do know that it has always been out of great intent and they truly wanted all of us to have the time of our lives. I initially trusted this would be an amazing & memorable experience for all of us, which is why I agreed to do one promotion…not knowing about the disaster that was to come…I feel so sorry and badly because this is something I couldn’t stand by, although of course if I would have known the outcome, you would have all known too.’
She said sorry, so that counts…? The festival organisers are yet to comment
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.