Fyre Festival investor Andy King warns of “a lot of red flags” over reboot: “Proceed with caution”
Former Fyre Festival investor Andy King has warned of “a lot of red flags” over the event’s planned reboot.
This week the infamously disastrous festival’s return was confirmed by founder Billy McFarland, who claimed in a new interview with NBC News that it is locked in for April 2025.
The now notorious festival went viral in 2017 for promising a luxury festival experience on a private island in the Bahamas, only for it to unfold as a logistical nightmare with accommodation, food and water issues.
The festival received renewed publicity when Netflix dropped its hit documentary Fyre.
The defining moment of the tell-all doc came when event producer King recalled how he was prepared to give oral sex to a customs official in exchange for allowing Evian water onto the island.
King, who lost $1million (£765,250 in the original festival), has now spoken out about his doubts about Fyre’s planned return.
Speaking to the BBC, King said that McFarland was “known for the biggest failure in pop culture and wants to flip the script. But I’m not sure he’s going about it the right way.”
McFarland spent four years in prison on multiple counts of fraud over the event, after failing to deliver on any of the luxuries that tickets costing up to $250,000 (£191,342) promised.
King said he had met McFarland a few months ago to discuss Fyre 2, but feared the disgraced businessman hadn’t “learned a lot in prison… he’s shooting from the hip again”.
“Billy has a gift. He’s got a lot of charisma. He knows how to pull people in,” he added.
“Think about it: when he was 24, he walked in to investment banking firms in New York and got them to invest $29m.”
While he agreed that the new instalment could be a “huge success”, he admitted that if McFarland was “running the show again, it won’t work”.
“I’m just seeing a lot of red flags, and a lot of red lights”, he added. “And I feel bad. It saddens me.
King said that follow-up calls had fallen through, and he hadn’t heard from his former business partner in around seven or eight months.
He also warned anyone interested in attending the reboot to “proceed with caution.”
According to McFarland, tickets for next year’s event will start at $1,400 (£1,071), but may go as high as $1.1million (£841,808).
Back in 2019, King revealed that he “begged” for his infamous story about oral sex to be dropped from the film, but was told by the director: “Without that scene, there isn’t a documentary.”
The now viral moment has since afford King some level of success, with the breakout star even inspiring an Evian water bottle back in 2020. He also reported being offered numerous TV deals.
No talent has been booked for Fyre Festival 2 yet, per McFarland. The original Fyre Festival was reportedly set to include performances from Blink-182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Migos, Pusha T, Tyga and more.
In August last year, pre-sale tickets to Fyre Festival 2 sold out despite the fact that the festival has no line-up, venue, or dates fixed for the event.
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Hollie Geraghty
NME
