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  • 2017-04-28 (xsd:date)
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  • Luxury 'Fyre' Music Festival in the Bahamas Descends Into Chaos? (en)
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  • Weekend revelers who were expecting a luxury music festival on a private island in the Bahamas starting on 28 April 2017 instead arrived to find Fyre Festival in a state of chaos. Attendees hoping to see high-profile bands, enjoy beautiful scenery in comfortable surroundings and eat gourmet food instead were stranded on an island with no alcohol and cafeteria-style sandwiches, leading to comparisons to the novel Lord of the Flies: Fyre Festival staff posted an apology to the event's web site, which has since been otherwise wiped clear of other information, saying: We received an autoreply to our e-mailed question about the event saying that the event's staff were overwhelmed with inquiries. But according to Vanity Fair, which spoke to an organizer before the chaos ensued, attendees could spend hundreds or even tens of thousands of dollars in hopes of a yachting beach adventure: Vanity Fair reported that the festival was organized by Fyre Media: We sent e-mails to all three contact address on the organization's web site and all bounced back with an address not found message. The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism issued a statement expressing dismay at the chaos of the event, and noting that although they offered ancillary support like facilitating communications between organizers and government agencies, they were not a sponsor of the festival. Some are now questioning whether the costly event was nothing more than a scam. Farah Benghozi told CBS News, This was a scam for sure. It could have been something, but they didn’t put effort into it. Janan Buisier tweeted from Exuma Airport calling the event a hoax: Although the Fyre Festival was promoted loudly for months on Instagram, there were a number of scattered red flags before unwitting festival-goers found themselves trapped in rapidly devolving conditions. As early as 29 March 2017, Twitter account @FyreFraud began suggesting that the island party could not possibly be executed as purportedly planned: The same account continued to point out inconsistencies in Fyre Festival's claims as the ill-fated event quickly approached, along with what appeared to be a last-ditch effort to raise further funding from attendees: On 11 April 2017 a Reddit subreddit was created, ostensibly so putative Fyre Festival attendees could interact before the purported festivities. But two of the subreddit's first submissions pertained to rumors the much-hyped festival was a scam or fraud. A vendor identifying themselves as a caterer for the festival was besieged with questions about the event's legitimacy, and a highly-rated 11 April 2017 submission to r/fyrefestival was simply titled Fyre Festival is Sketchy. The submitter listed several substantive discrepancies between purported marketing claims and the situation as it stood on 11 April 2017: Among predictions that came to pass included promises pertaining to luxury accommodations which didn't appear to have been honored: As of 28 April 2017, the Fyre Festival fiasco remained underway. Much was yet to be determined, including to what degree organizers planned to reimburse attendees of the non-existent event: The same day, Ja Rule, one of the Fyre Media co-founders tweeted a message denying the festival was a scam and that he was working to make things right with people who purchased tickets: (en)
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