Yes, it’s a “fyre” sale.
The Fyre Festival brand is to be won, announced on Wednesday its promoter Billy McFarland, a week after the organizers have postponed the Fyre Festival 2 without new date.
“A new chapter begins. After two years of reconstruction with honesty, creativity and incessant efforts, it is time to pass the torch. We officially put the Fyre brand on sale. To the right buyer: the platform is yours.
McFarland said he was sold the brand because it has become “greater than any person and bigger than I am able to direct by myself”.
“When my team and I launched Fyre Festival 2, it was two things: to finish what I started and do things correctly. Over the past two years, we have poured everything to bring Fyre with honesty, transparency, incessant effort and creativity,” he said in a statement. “We have taken the long way towards the reconstruction of confidence. We have rebuilt the momentum. And we have proven something without a doubt: Fyre is one of the most powerful engines in the world.”
The infamous 2017 festival was presented as a luxury music festival ultimate starry on the island of Exuma, but quickly turned into a fiasco. He relaunched in 2023 with Fyre Festival 2.
McFarland said at the time that the idea of relaunching had come to him “during a 7 -month stay at isolation”. He pleaded guilty of wire fraud and other crimes linked to the first festival and was released early from the federal prison in 2022.
The first Fyre festival was at the center of two documentaries on Netflix and Hulu.
The relaunched festival, however, struck a few snags. Last week, the organizers said it would no longer take place in the Mexican seaside resort of Playa del Carmen. McFarland said that the date depends on the location, so it was not immediately clear if the plans to hold the festival next month would change.
McFarland took up the challenges surrounding Fyre Festival 2, writing in his declaration that several Caribbean destinations expressed their interest in hosting the event.
“We have plunged into the process – meet national officials, make visits to the site – and we are convinced that we have found the ideal location for the festival,” he said. “Although I am incredibly excited, I cannot risk a rehearsal of what happened in Playa del Carmen, where support quickly turned into public distancing once the attention of the media has intensified. For Fyre Festival 2 to succeed, it is clear that I have to step back and allow a new team to go ahead independently, giving life to this incredible island.
He said that giving control of a new group “is the most responsible way to follow what we have decided to do: build a world entertainment brand, organize a safe and legendary event and continue to pay the restitution to those due to the first festival”.
McFarland has completed his statement by saying that the next festival will be greater and better.
