Fyre Festival Organizers Hit With $100 Million Lawsuit
Well we all saw this coming and it certainly didn’t take long. A $100 million proposed class action lawsuit was filed Sunday in California against the organizers of the now infamous Fyre Festival on the grounds of fraud, claiming a lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees. Those who showed up for the festival in the Bahamas the weekend of April 28th, suddenly found themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions that was closer to ‘The Hunger Games’ or ‘Lord of the Flies’ than Coachella,” ABC News reported. The lawsuit was filed by concertgoer Daniel Jung with his attorney stating the whole debacle “was nothing more than a get-rich-quick scam from the very beginning and they intended to fleece attendees for hundreds of millions of dollars by inducing them to fly to a remote island without food, shelter or water and without regard to what might happen to them after that.”
The festival organized by entrepreneur Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, was promoted with the help of supermodels like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid as a luxury music experience on a remote and private island in the Bahamas with the promise of posh accommodations and adventure for a cost between $5,000 to $250,000. But when attendees arrived, they realized the reality was a stark contrast from the advertisements. One Instagram hashtag read: “The dinner that promised us was catered by Steven Starr and is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing. #fryefestival.” Another Instagram post: “In case you’re wondering, those “cabanas” are actually disaster relief tents.” The suit which expects more than 150 plaintiffs, claims attendees were hamstrung by their reliance upon the defendants for transportation, as well as by the fact they promoted the festival as a ‘cashless’ event. Defendants instructed attendees to upload funds to a wristband for use at the festival rather than bringing any cash. Attendees were unable to purchase basic transportation on local taxis or buses, which accept only cash. As a result, at least one person suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness after being locked inside a nearby building with other concert-goers waiting to be airlifted from the island, according to Variety. McFarland, the 25-year-old Fyre co-founder who has landed in hot water before with his other business ventures, wrote a piece for Rolling Stone saying that the organizers were “overwhelmed.” He promised to refund customers and offer a make-up event next year. “We thought we were making timeframes that were correct,” he wrote. “We were a little naïve in thinking for the first time we could do this ourselves. Next year, we will definitely start earlier. The reality is, we weren’t experienced enough to keep up.”
Will Refunding Monies to Festival Goers Be Enough to Stop Fyre Lawsuit?
Susan Z’s Conclusion:
No. These are some very spoiled and pissed off people who expected to be treated like royalty for their money and instead got a poor man’s “Cast Away” weekend.
The World:
Inverted (Upside Down)
This card represents success in the world and a happy conclusion. With the card inverted it is pretty obvious this did not work out the way they intended it to nor will they get out of it easily.
Two of Swords:
This card represents being in a position of stalemate. I believe this card shows that resolving this concert debacle will present them with many situations of “this is not enough compensation, I want more!”.
Page of Cups:
This card represents future success. Because this card was pulled, I feel that both promoters involved will continue creating successful new events and have definitely learned their lesson on this failed one.
Susan Z Rich is an emotional addiction counselor, spiritual intuitive and holistic therapist. She counsels others to see life in a more positive way and teaches personal accountability for life choices. She is also the author of several children’s books and Soul Windows…Secrets From The Divine.