Do you remember that wacky time in 2017 when Billy McFarland was supposed to put on an amazing multi-day event called Fyre Festival? And how he went to jail for fraud when people who paid obscene prices for tickets were put in FEMA tents and given cheese sandwiches right before practically every band canceled? Well, now that McFarland has been released from prison, he’s throwing Fyre Festival 2.
Except this time he has former NFL star Antonio Brown as his first confirmed act. We guess rapper Ja Rule learned his lesson the first time around.
“This is AB and I’ll be performing at Fyre Fest, part two, in Mexico on May 30th,” Brown told TMZ Sports. “Be there or be square. Make sure you put that shit on.”
Fyre Festival 2: Red Flag Boogaloo
The festival has already been pushed back from April 2025 to May 30th through June 2nd. Normally, we wouldn’t take this as a big deal, but given the event and McFarland’s history, everything is suspect. Especially given reports that days after tickets went on sale, government officials had “no knowledge of this event.”
Fyre Festival 2 will allegedly take place on Isla Mujeres, an island off the coast of Mexico. We say allegedly because Edgar Gasca, from the tourism directorate of Isla Mujeres, says their offices have had no “contact with any person or company about” the event. “For us, this is an event that does not exist.”
“This festival is not going to happen. There are red flags all over the place,” Gasca told The Guardian. “If you go on their website and take the coordinates they provide, then put them in Google Maps, it takes you to the ocean — between Cancún and Isla Mujeres.”
At the time, permits allegedly hadn’t even been requested. We’ll admit to not being experts on maritime law and maybe you don’t need permits for ocean concerts, but it feels like you should…
Hotels
Gasca also addressed the supposed accommodations that guests would be staying in. He claims to have spoken to the hotels that Fyre lists on its website. According to him, each hotel said they knew nothing about the upcoming event. “The organizers didn’t even bother to approach the authorities,” he explains. “It’s very strange, because any manager knows that if you’re going to hold an event, let alone a massive event, you need municipal authorization.”
“I think they thought they would just announce it and see if it got traction, then ask for the permits halfway down the path,” he continues. “It’s a bit of a naive way to think.” (We’d like to point out that this kind of behavior was a huge issue with vendors last time too.)
McFarland’s Response
This news and Gasca’s comments quickly went viral, so McFarland took to Instagram to try to clear things up.
“I figured it would be best to hear directly from me what’s actually happening,” he said. “First, Fyre 2 is real. Second, we have incredible partners leading the festival. They’re in charge of all the logistics, productions and operations. This includes an incredible production team in Mexico who does not f around. There is no way they would ever take on a fake festival.”
In terms of hotels, he says, “We have accommodations.” “Naturally, this is a huge point of emphasis given the issues surrounding Fyre 1,” McFarland said in the video. “Our accommodations include contracts, the number of villas, yachts and hotels. This also includes two hotels who were contacted by the media and in response, gave misleading statements saying they never heard a Fyre and they aren’t working with us. After hearing this, I asked my team to terminate those contracts and to focus on the hotels and other partners who are eager to work with and support Fyre.”
Not Adding Up
Which would all sound convincing if authorities and hotels weren’t saying the exact opposite. Yeah, we get that Fyre Fest is an easy target for mockery. We could buy the narrative that people are trying to make a quick buck by exploiting that. But so far everything is a carbon copy of the first time around.
Seemingly every vendor, government office, and hotel attached to this thing saying they know nothing about it is a massive red flag. McFarland refusing to provide the names of the other “incredible partners” he is working with makes that flag so big it could block out the sun. At this point, the only reason we trust that Brown is attached is because he made the claim himself on video.
An event like Fyre Festival is cool in theory, but maybe it shouldn’t be in the hands of someone who has been convicted of defrauding people.
You can check out Brown and McFarland’s videos about Fyre Festival 2 below. We wish those who have already bought tickets the best of luck.
