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1
00:00:20,729 --> 00:00:22,272
Okay. On you go.
2
00:00:22,897 --> 00:00:24,816
All right, Jason's
here on Fyre Cay,
3
00:00:24,899 --> 00:00:26,651
showing him the newly
purchased property.
4
00:00:26,735 --> 00:00:28,975
- I like it, man.
- Getting set up for the Fyre festival.
5
00:00:29,029 --> 00:00:30,947
I like your life, man,
I like what's goin' on.
6
00:00:31,031 --> 00:00:32,949
- Are you excited for April?
- I'm ready, man.
7
00:00:33,033 --> 00:00:34,492
- Do I got my ticket?
- You have.
8
00:00:34,576 --> 00:00:36,256
All right, cool, that's
all I need to know.
9
00:00:36,286 --> 00:00:39,289
- Biggest event in a decade, I promise you.
- I'll be there.
10
00:00:40,749 --> 00:00:43,418
When did you first
become aware of Fyre?
11
00:00:44,335 --> 00:00:47,714
I started seeing people posting
kind of the promo video.
12
00:00:47,797 --> 00:00:50,341
It was this very slick
production that promised
13
00:00:50,425 --> 00:00:53,470
that it was Pablo
Escobar's private island
14
00:00:53,595 --> 00:00:56,681
and that they were flying in
thousands of people on private jets.
15
00:00:56,890 --> 00:01:00,101
It was just the coolest party
that you'd ever seen advertised.
16
00:01:03,605 --> 00:01:05,315
My agency contacted me
17
00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:07,734
and was like, "Hey, there's
this new festival coming up."
18
00:01:07,859 --> 00:01:09,486
It's really exclusive."
19
00:01:09,861 --> 00:01:11,613
The most insane festival
20
00:01:11,696 --> 00:01:12,697
the world has ever seen.
21
00:01:13,281 --> 00:01:14,532
All these models, like,
22
00:01:14,824 --> 00:01:16,159
in the Bahamas.
23
00:01:16,576 --> 00:01:19,037
Acts like Major
Lazer, Disclosure, Tyga...
24
00:01:20,038 --> 00:01:22,749
This is the first weekend
this has ever happened,
25
00:01:23,083 --> 00:01:24,667
so, literally, I was excited.
26
00:01:24,751 --> 00:01:26,628
But we didn't know anything.
27
00:01:26,711 --> 00:01:30,215
It's become one of the most
talked-about dramas on social media.
28
00:01:30,298 --> 00:01:32,509
A glamorous,
luxurious Caribbean...
29
00:01:32,592 --> 00:01:34,803
island getaway
turned disaster...
30
00:01:34,886 --> 00:01:36,387
quickly spiraling into chaos.
31
00:01:36,805 --> 00:01:40,183
Now, the event's co-founder is
facing up to 20 years in prison.
32
00:01:42,227 --> 00:01:44,771
Are you sorry? Do you have
anything to say for yourself?
33
00:01:45,105 --> 00:01:47,732
Thank you, guys, I'll arrange
a comment later. Thank you.
34
00:01:50,443 --> 00:01:51,443
Hey, Billy?
35
00:01:51,820 --> 00:01:53,738
There's a bunch of people
who's filing lawsuits
36
00:01:53,822 --> 00:01:56,783
against you today in federal court.
Did you hear about that?
37
00:01:57,367 --> 00:02:00,703
It just became much more than
anybody ever dreamed it would be.
38
00:02:02,163 --> 00:02:05,625
I mean, you know the saying,
"Desperate people do desperate things."
39
00:02:07,836 --> 00:02:11,172
And now I hope Billy doesn't go to
prison for it, but I don't know.
40
00:02:22,767 --> 00:02:24,561
We are here at the Web Summit...
41
00:02:24,644 --> 00:02:28,481
I remember that it was a
big deal that Ja and Billy
42
00:02:28,565 --> 00:02:30,692
were going to the Web
Summit to talk about Fyre.
43
00:02:30,775 --> 00:02:33,069
It was the first
real piece of press.
44
00:02:33,361 --> 00:02:37,031
Well, I'm gonna let my partner
in crime here, Billy McFarland,
45
00:02:37,365 --> 00:02:40,160
give you all the
introduction of what Fyre is.
46
00:02:40,243 --> 00:02:43,913
Billy and Ja met because Billy's
previous company, Magnises,
47
00:02:44,247 --> 00:02:47,500
he would have parties and special
events and invite the members,
48
00:02:47,584 --> 00:02:50,378
and one of the events,
he tried to book Ja Rule,
49
00:02:50,461 --> 00:02:52,964
and apparently, that was
a very difficult task.
50
00:02:53,047 --> 00:02:56,467
I went to Instagram and found
this guy named Reggie Muscles
51
00:02:56,551 --> 00:02:59,179
and he says, "Give me 500 bucks
and I'll get you Ja Rule."
52
00:02:59,262 --> 00:03:00,388
I paid Reggie Muscles.
53
00:03:01,598 --> 00:03:04,309
The next day, Reggie Muscles
brings in a guy named Gunner.
54
00:03:04,767 --> 00:03:07,896
Gunner's a little smarter now, so
Gunner asked for $1,000 and he said,
55
00:03:07,979 --> 00:03:10,732
"I'll get you Ja Rule."
So, I gave Gunner $1,000.
56
00:03:10,815 --> 00:03:13,067
And Gunner called me
a week later saying,
57
00:03:13,151 --> 00:03:14,569
"Ja Rule hates your offer."
58
00:03:15,486 --> 00:03:18,948
So one of the problems that
we're really tackling is...
59
00:03:19,407 --> 00:03:21,993
the nasty business of booking.
60
00:03:22,076 --> 00:03:25,038
So, Billy actually pitched me
the idea, let me know he was
61
00:03:25,121 --> 00:03:27,373
working with Ja Rule and they
were recruiting engineers
62
00:03:27,457 --> 00:03:28,708
to build this marketplace.
63
00:03:29,083 --> 00:03:33,379
You go to the website, you can scroll
through various types of talent.
64
00:03:33,463 --> 00:03:36,424
Somebody who wants to have
Ja Rule at a birthday party
65
00:03:36,507 --> 00:03:39,802
could, through the app,
book Ja Rule for that event
66
00:03:39,886 --> 00:03:42,805
and that's sort of the type of thing
that you could never do before Fyre.
67
00:03:42,889 --> 00:03:44,289
What these guys
did was identify...
68
00:03:44,724 --> 00:03:47,518
I think, a really beautiful
"blindspot" in the industry that...
69
00:03:47,602 --> 00:03:49,771
The way the trifecta between
the three of us worked
70
00:03:49,854 --> 00:03:53,858
is that I oversaw product, ran
the design development of the app,
71
00:03:53,942 --> 00:03:56,611
Ja was the entertainment
industry connection
72
00:03:56,945 --> 00:04:01,616
and Billy had connections through
what he told us was VC funding.
73
00:04:01,699 --> 00:04:04,744
Every single thing that goes
into the booking process
74
00:04:04,994 --> 00:04:06,162
is right then and there...
75
00:04:06,246 --> 00:04:09,165
I thought that this was
a functioning platform,
76
00:04:09,249 --> 00:04:12,043
something that was really going...
That had the opportunity
77
00:04:12,126 --> 00:04:14,504
to revolutionize the way, you
know, the industry worked.
78
00:04:14,796 --> 00:04:18,466
The Fyre app had the potential
to be a billion-dollar platform.
79
00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:22,929
After working on the app
for three to five months,
80
00:04:23,012 --> 00:04:25,598
we were starting to figure
out ways to promote it
81
00:04:25,682 --> 00:04:28,101
and in a meeting, I
had actually mentioned,
82
00:04:28,184 --> 00:04:32,397
"Why don't we throw a festival,
a concert for industry professionals?"
83
00:04:33,106 --> 00:04:37,110
That idea, Billy kind of
hooked onto and then it morphed
84
00:04:37,193 --> 00:04:41,322
pretty dramatically outside
of any input from me or Ja
85
00:04:41,406 --> 00:04:44,993
into what became
the Fyre Festival.
86
00:04:45,076 --> 00:04:46,202
Let me fix you up, man.
87
00:04:46,661 --> 00:04:48,663
Let me fix you up a
little bit, a'ight?
88
00:04:48,955 --> 00:04:50,290
A little sandy. That's a'ight.
89
00:04:50,373 --> 00:04:53,001
We're sandy 'cause we're on our
fuckin' island havin' a good time.
90
00:04:53,084 --> 00:04:54,084
A'ight?
91
00:04:54,127 --> 00:04:55,878
Originally, when Billy
called me, he said,
92
00:04:55,962 --> 00:04:57,714
"I've bought an
island in the Bahamas
93
00:04:57,797 --> 00:04:59,674
and we're hosting a music
festival down there."
94
00:05:00,008 --> 00:05:01,217
And I said, "What island?"
95
00:05:01,301 --> 00:05:03,428
And he said, "Pablo
Escobar's island,"
96
00:05:03,511 --> 00:05:05,054
and I said, "Oh, my gosh!"
97
00:05:06,139 --> 00:05:07,932
- A year and a half ago...
- Talk to them.
98
00:05:08,016 --> 00:05:12,520
Ja and I were flying over the Exumas
and we saw this unmanned runway.
99
00:05:12,603 --> 00:05:15,356
We tried dialing it and no one
responded, so we landed there.
100
00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:16,941
Turns out it was Norman's Cay.
101
00:05:18,067 --> 00:05:20,361
When I met Billy, it was like,
102
00:05:20,445 --> 00:05:24,490
"Man, this guy is stinking rich. He's
bringing all his friends down here
103
00:05:24,615 --> 00:05:26,617
and he's paying for everything."
104
00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,746
Four jet skis, four boats,
105
00:05:29,829 --> 00:05:32,123
and, you know, all having
a wild-out time. You know.
106
00:05:32,206 --> 00:05:34,500
I think the idea just
popped up in his head like,
107
00:05:34,584 --> 00:05:37,253
"Ping! We're gonna
throw a festival here."
108
00:05:38,004 --> 00:05:39,644
They were going to
have celebrities there,
109
00:05:39,672 --> 00:05:41,591
it would be this big
consumer-facing thing
110
00:05:41,674 --> 00:05:44,010
and that they were going
to do buried treasure.
111
00:05:44,093 --> 00:05:45,470
A real-life treasure hunt.
112
00:05:45,595 --> 00:05:47,930
Win a piece of land on the
island, your own private island,
113
00:05:48,014 --> 00:05:49,599
right here, with
the Fyre Cay team.
114
00:05:49,682 --> 00:05:52,268
From a pure concept
standpoint, it holds water.
115
00:05:52,643 --> 00:05:55,480
An amazing experience
in a beautiful location
116
00:05:55,563 --> 00:05:58,691
with beautiful people and great music.
You can't ask for more.
117
00:06:03,488 --> 00:06:05,782
This is going to be the most
incredible fuckin' shit.
118
00:06:05,865 --> 00:06:08,159
- The Magic Bird.
- The Magic Bird.
119
00:06:10,495 --> 00:06:14,332
"The Magic Bird" is a phrase
that me and Billy coined.
120
00:06:15,333 --> 00:06:18,878
The impact that Magic Johnson
and Larry Bird had on the NBA.
121
00:06:19,462 --> 00:06:22,632
It changed the way people saw
and thought about basketball.
122
00:06:23,091 --> 00:06:26,219
And me and Billy are going to
change the way people look at
123
00:06:26,302 --> 00:06:28,262
a young tech entrepreneur
124
00:06:28,346 --> 00:06:32,934
and a hip-hop mogul come together
and create something incredible.
125
00:06:34,018 --> 00:06:38,064
Billy was kind of nerdy,
but clearly smart,
126
00:06:38,147 --> 00:06:40,441
clearly an incredible
entrepreneur.
127
00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:42,360
We interacted a lot.
128
00:06:42,443 --> 00:06:45,696
He seemed very charismatic,
very trustworthy.
129
00:06:46,072 --> 00:06:47,657
I thought that he had a vision.
130
00:06:47,740 --> 00:06:50,618
He was able to maneuver and
conduct himself around investors
131
00:06:50,701 --> 00:06:53,287
and then build teams
to build his products.
132
00:06:53,704 --> 00:06:57,250
We were hired to do all the advertising
and marketing for the festival.
133
00:06:57,708 --> 00:06:59,877
They were hiring the best of
the best in each category.
134
00:06:59,961 --> 00:07:02,296
Best talent, best distribution,
135
00:07:02,380 --> 00:07:04,048
best social media company.
136
00:07:04,132 --> 00:07:06,801
Fuckjerry had just launched
a new marketing agency
137
00:07:06,884 --> 00:07:10,513
and we were hired by Fyre to
basically run all the social media.
138
00:07:10,596 --> 00:07:12,098
We've got major news.
139
00:07:12,181 --> 00:07:15,476
Ja Rule just called us, basically
said he wants us to pitch him
140
00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:16,894
for his new app, Fyre.
141
00:07:17,228 --> 00:07:19,063
- This is Fuckjerry?
- Yeah.
142
00:07:20,940 --> 00:07:23,109
That was an amazing meeting.
143
00:07:23,192 --> 00:07:26,320
They just bought an island and
they're going to have a party in April
144
00:07:26,487 --> 00:07:27,488
for 10,000 people.
145
00:07:27,572 --> 00:07:32,160
It felt like they were basically doing
a music festival to draw attention to
146
00:07:32,243 --> 00:07:35,955
this bigger brand that would end up
being the Uber of booking talent.
147
00:07:36,497 --> 00:07:38,499
Who was playing, what
the food was gonna be,
148
00:07:38,583 --> 00:07:41,961
all the things that typically sell a
music festival wasn't the sales point.
149
00:07:42,044 --> 00:07:45,590
This was like selling a dream,
selling a vacation, selling a concept.
150
00:07:45,673 --> 00:07:47,175
We knew that there was a place
151
00:07:47,258 --> 00:07:50,261
and we knew that there was an
idea of having a music festival
152
00:07:50,344 --> 00:07:51,762
and that was pretty much it.
153
00:07:57,768 --> 00:07:59,687
I directed the commercial.
154
00:08:00,104 --> 00:08:02,690
When I saw the call sheet,
I was like, "That's crazy!"
155
00:08:03,232 --> 00:08:06,068
Basically, like, ten of the
top supermodels in the world.
156
00:08:06,152 --> 00:08:08,362
It was the titans of
the modeling industry -
157
00:08:08,446 --> 00:08:11,866
Bella Hadid, Emily
Ratajkowski, Hailey Baldwin.
158
00:08:12,283 --> 00:08:14,952
Supermodels, I'm talking
about supermodels.
159
00:08:15,328 --> 00:08:19,165
I thought it was the best thing ever.
"It can't get no bigger than this."
160
00:08:20,166 --> 00:08:21,834
He's recording us!
161
00:08:22,335 --> 00:08:24,545
One camera crew is
shooting with the models,
162
00:08:25,046 --> 00:08:28,007
and they had a dedicated
film crew, like,
163
00:08:28,090 --> 00:08:31,010
shooting the dialogue
between Billy and his people.
164
00:08:31,219 --> 00:08:33,095
So, we ran into a
little issue today.
165
00:08:33,554 --> 00:08:36,224
- Sorry, cut. Talk to me.
- Okay.
166
00:08:36,307 --> 00:08:37,391
Start, one more time.
167
00:08:38,309 --> 00:08:40,561
- We ran into an issue today.
- No. Start again.
168
00:08:40,937 --> 00:08:43,523
[Brett There was no, "This is
the story we want to tell."
169
00:08:43,606 --> 00:08:45,316
There was just,
"Capture everything."
170
00:08:45,399 --> 00:08:47,068
We need genuine shots.
171
00:08:47,151 --> 00:08:49,946
We need genuine people
interacting, having a good time.
172
00:08:50,029 --> 00:08:51,864
I need a wide yacht shot.
173
00:08:51,948 --> 00:08:55,743
We have to do the cave underwater, we
need the boats in a flying-V formation.
174
00:08:55,826 --> 00:09:01,374
Could we tell Herbie to have a big,
big, big bonfire tomorrow night?
175
00:09:01,457 --> 00:09:03,167
Like a huge bonfire?
176
00:09:03,251 --> 00:09:06,128
Grant was a neurotic person.
177
00:09:06,212 --> 00:09:08,005
He was a... He's a smart dude.
178
00:09:08,089 --> 00:09:09,715
He was just overwhelmed.
179
00:09:09,799 --> 00:09:13,261
I'm our chief marketing officer.
180
00:09:13,344 --> 00:09:16,544
I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist,
but everything must be perfect, you know?
181
00:09:16,597 --> 00:09:18,307
I mean, it was like
a job of five people.
182
00:09:18,391 --> 00:09:20,601
And he had no experience
in doing music festivals
183
00:09:20,685 --> 00:09:23,854
no experience in doing events.
But he did work hard.
184
00:09:24,564 --> 00:09:28,776
So I know Billy wants to go see the pigs
and this is the only way to make it work.
185
00:09:28,859 --> 00:09:30,653
But we can't shoot it, dude.
186
00:09:30,736 --> 00:09:32,154
Fair... So I...
187
00:09:32,238 --> 00:09:34,031
and you know we don't
need to shoot it.
188
00:09:34,949 --> 00:09:37,702
Real talk. Like, we're spending
a lot of fucking money.
189
00:09:38,327 --> 00:09:40,830
If we want to go fucking see
the pigs, we go see the pigs.
190
00:09:40,913 --> 00:09:42,415
'Il find a way to make it work.
191
00:09:42,623 --> 00:09:43,623
That's it.
192
00:09:43,916 --> 00:09:46,627
If we wanna fucking see the pigs.
The girls wanna go see the pigs,
193
00:09:46,711 --> 00:09:48,087
we go fucking see the pigs.
194
00:09:48,713 --> 00:09:51,132
It was like, "We're gonna
scratch the pigs now
195
00:09:51,215 --> 00:09:52,592
and we're going to shoot it."
196
00:09:53,009 --> 00:09:55,011
We were the production company
197
00:09:55,094 --> 00:09:58,222
but we didn't have the authority to
organize it like we were supposed to.
198
00:09:58,306 --> 00:09:59,974
Here go the shots, come on.
199
00:10:00,057 --> 00:10:01,601
Hey, yo. Catch this, get this.
200
00:10:06,689 --> 00:10:08,274
Billy didn't have no rules.
201
00:10:08,357 --> 00:10:11,319
He had everyone
drinking, open bar
202
00:10:11,402 --> 00:10:15,156
wilding out. It was more of a
party than a promotional shoot.
203
00:10:15,448 --> 00:10:16,866
Yeah, let me fly the drone.
204
00:10:17,908 --> 00:10:21,746
Our guys were partying non-stop.
Sunup to sundown, gettin' loose.
205
00:10:22,580 --> 00:10:25,625
Billy fell asleep on the beach,
literally, just broad daylight.
206
00:10:25,750 --> 00:10:26,876
Out like a light.
207
00:10:29,128 --> 00:10:32,340
I flew here with Billy,
just for a holiday
208
00:10:32,423 --> 00:10:36,302
and now this has ballooned
into a full production team
209
00:10:36,385 --> 00:10:37,803
of girls and cameras.
210
00:10:37,887 --> 00:10:41,515
There was this crazy pilot, Keith.
He made the plane go zero gravity.
211
00:10:41,599 --> 00:10:42,679
I don't know how he did it.
212
00:10:43,184 --> 00:10:46,103
Near take-off, he's like, "I
bought this plane six months ago,
213
00:10:46,187 --> 00:10:47,104
I just got my license."
214
00:10:47,188 --> 00:10:50,232
I ended up teaching myself and you
can use Microsoft Flight Simulator.
215
00:10:50,316 --> 00:10:53,903
Microsoft Flight Simulator has
lessons and it's excellent.
216
00:10:53,986 --> 00:10:56,155
Once in the air, I was like,
"What are we gonna do?"
217
00:10:56,238 --> 00:10:59,278
He was pulling off the end of the runway
and going straight up into the thing
218
00:10:59,325 --> 00:11:00,618
and killing the engine.
219
00:11:00,701 --> 00:11:02,703
You know, whenever I'm
with Billy, I have to...
220
00:11:02,953 --> 00:11:04,413
do at least three zero Gs.
221
00:11:07,541 --> 00:11:09,919
Billy and Ja made
their famous toast.
222
00:11:10,294 --> 00:11:12,421
That's when I was
introduced to the toast.
223
00:11:12,505 --> 00:11:15,508
Here's to living
like movie stars,
224
00:11:16,175 --> 00:11:18,260
partying like rock stars...
225
00:11:19,053 --> 00:11:19,929
Billy?
226
00:11:20,012 --> 00:11:21,722
And fucking like porn stars.
227
00:11:24,433 --> 00:11:26,936
It was definitely, like,
a trying work environment.
228
00:11:28,521 --> 00:11:31,482
One night, they wanted
to turn the bonfire
229
00:11:31,565 --> 00:11:34,110
into, like, the Billy and
Ja party on the beach,
230
00:11:34,402 --> 00:11:35,653
and that's all on camera.
231
00:11:36,112 --> 00:11:36,987
Come on, baby.
232
00:11:37,071 --> 00:11:38,656
We about to create art.
Get over here.
233
00:11:38,739 --> 00:11:39,865
Just get in the water.
234
00:11:39,949 --> 00:11:43,160
If y'all don't want to put on a bikini,
it don't matter. Let's get in the water.
235
00:11:43,244 --> 00:11:44,912
Hell, no, I'm not
getting in no water.
236
00:11:44,995 --> 00:11:47,289
Yeah, get in the
fucking water, Chanel.
237
00:11:48,374 --> 00:11:50,126
They wanted to get
everyone in the water,
238
00:11:50,209 --> 00:11:51,919
So they made it sound
as if it was a scene,
239
00:11:52,002 --> 00:11:54,004
but nobody was
there directing that scene.
240
00:11:54,088 --> 00:11:56,424
Guys, what's the purpose of
what you're trying to do?
241
00:11:56,507 --> 00:11:58,843
We're gonna jump in, then
the girls will follow us in.
242
00:11:58,926 --> 00:12:00,344
This is the money shot!
243
00:12:00,428 --> 00:12:02,471
Us jumping after you?
244
00:12:02,847 --> 00:12:05,349
It was them partying with talent
245
00:12:05,433 --> 00:12:08,060
that didn't really know
what they were there to do.
246
00:12:08,561 --> 00:12:10,438
But in the end,
it didn't matter.
247
00:12:10,521 --> 00:12:13,149
We're selling a pipe dream
to your average loser.
248
00:12:13,232 --> 00:12:17,069
- Selling a pipe dream to fucking buyers.
- Your average guy in middle America.
249
00:12:17,153 --> 00:12:20,406
They were selling a vision
of what people want.
250
00:12:22,199 --> 00:12:25,286
We should tell all the girls to post
one picture of them on the beach today,
251
00:12:25,369 --> 00:12:27,997
or on jet skis, #fyrefestival
before five o'clock.
252
00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,791
Could y'all, like, hashtag
some Fyre Festival shit?
253
00:12:32,126 --> 00:12:36,005
The models posted a lot of their
own pictures from the weekend
254
00:12:36,088 --> 00:12:37,673
that they spent shooting there.
255
00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:39,675
They need to be
fucking tagging us.
256
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,387
Why aren't these people tagging us?
This is bullshit.
257
00:12:43,596 --> 00:12:45,765
One of the women had posted...
258
00:12:46,348 --> 00:12:48,017
the Mannequin Challenge
that they did.
259
00:12:49,143 --> 00:12:51,437
And so Ja Rule is there
and Billy was there
260
00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,856
and then ten of
the top models...
261
00:12:54,565 --> 00:12:58,652
The power of celebrity really
there was, like, "Whoa!"
262
00:12:59,195 --> 00:13:01,822
The press of the trip
263
00:13:02,072 --> 00:13:06,035
got picked up just by those girls
being there all together as a group.
264
00:13:06,285 --> 00:13:09,830
So, The Daily Mail talks about how
they're hashtagging "Fyre Festival"
265
00:13:09,914 --> 00:13:12,666
and that Shanina Shaik
says, "It's lit."
266
00:13:12,750 --> 00:13:15,044
I knew it would do that,
I knew with the buzz...
267
00:13:15,127 --> 00:13:17,963
If you're constantly going
to be taking pictures here,
268
00:13:18,047 --> 00:13:20,925
make sure you fucking,
"Fyre Festival,"
269
00:13:21,008 --> 00:13:26,096
because it's gonna create a small buzz
that can be a big buzz. It's free press.
270
00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:27,723
You can't pay for
that kind of press.
271
00:13:31,769 --> 00:13:33,896
They captured a ton of
footage that was just,
272
00:13:33,979 --> 00:13:36,190
really, from a marketing
perspective, second to none.
273
00:13:36,857 --> 00:13:40,528
And it was the thing that gave
all of the New York agencies
274
00:13:40,611 --> 00:13:42,530
some insight into what
was happening down there.
275
00:13:43,739 --> 00:13:46,408
They would all have
a tan and be smiling
276
00:13:46,492 --> 00:13:48,332
and talk about these
experiences that they had,
277
00:13:48,369 --> 00:13:50,162
which almost gave us a
little bit of like,
278
00:13:50,246 --> 00:13:53,123
We're wondering what we hadn't
seen or what we're missing out on
279
00:13:53,916 --> 00:13:59,004
and Fyre very quickly became one
of our most important clients.
280
00:13:59,380 --> 00:14:03,050
They were trying to tap into a culture
and a zeitgeist that they believed in,
281
00:14:03,425 --> 00:14:06,595
and they were uncompromising
when it came to marketing.
282
00:14:09,181 --> 00:14:11,350
Today's the big day.
Five o'clock.
283
00:14:11,433 --> 00:14:12,935
We have what will be known
284
00:14:13,018 --> 00:14:16,063
as the best coordinated social
influencer campaign ever.
285
00:14:16,146 --> 00:14:18,146
We have 400 of the biggest
people around the world,
286
00:14:18,190 --> 00:14:22,069
influencers, models, comedians,
artists, actors, actresses,
287
00:14:22,152 --> 00:14:26,574
all at the same time posting the
ambiguous burnt orange Fyre tile.
288
00:14:26,866 --> 00:14:29,577
They came up with the
idea of the orange tile.
289
00:14:29,660 --> 00:14:31,704
Fyre handled all
of the major models
290
00:14:31,912 --> 00:14:34,498
and then we and a
number of other agencies
291
00:14:34,582 --> 00:14:36,902
were reaching out to any
influencer we knew in our network.
292
00:14:37,167 --> 00:14:40,170
And there's the caption saying,
"Join me @fyrefestival.com,"
293
00:14:40,254 --> 00:14:42,506
so we're expecting millions
to come and visit our site,
294
00:14:42,590 --> 00:14:44,049
see the video,
showing people that
295
00:14:44,133 --> 00:14:46,385
for three or four days,
you can escape reality
296
00:14:46,468 --> 00:14:48,846
and come experience Pablo
Escobar's old island.
297
00:14:49,388 --> 00:14:51,932
The commercial globally
got launched while there.
298
00:14:52,224 --> 00:14:53,684
We had a whole edit team there.
299
00:14:53,767 --> 00:14:57,313
We were editing the commercial and
had a launch strategy in the Bahamas,
300
00:14:57,396 --> 00:15:00,556
which is crazy, 'cause there's no internet
and no infrastructure, nothing there.
301
00:15:01,066 --> 00:15:04,069
Billy was like, "Man, let's
catch a plane to Nassau"
302
00:15:04,153 --> 00:15:06,030
and go on the phone
and internet there,
303
00:15:06,113 --> 00:15:08,824
because Kendall Jenner is about
to announce this live thing
304
00:15:08,908 --> 00:15:10,242
on Instagram.
305
00:15:10,743 --> 00:15:13,621
Kendall Jenner was
paid, I think, $250,000
306
00:15:13,704 --> 00:15:17,124
by wire transfer just
to post that one post.
307
00:15:18,667 --> 00:15:21,503
When I saw the video, my
first reaction was confusion.
308
00:15:21,837 --> 00:15:24,131
I wasn't sure who was the
target market of the festival.
309
00:15:24,214 --> 00:15:26,800
If you go, will there be
Instagram models lounging around
310
00:15:26,884 --> 00:15:28,302
to feed you grapes?
311
00:15:28,385 --> 00:15:31,722
So, it was a combination of
confusion and excitement.
312
00:15:32,556 --> 00:15:34,683
As soon as the models
started posting,
313
00:15:34,767 --> 00:15:37,269
the Fyre Instagram account
just started to blow up.
314
00:15:37,561 --> 00:15:39,605
Overnight, basically,
315
00:15:39,688 --> 00:15:43,567
this massive influx of
enthusiasm and awareness,
316
00:15:43,651 --> 00:15:45,861
a PR storm like
you've never seen.
317
00:15:45,945 --> 00:15:49,782
I had brand sponsors who had invested
millions of dollars into Coachella
318
00:15:50,282 --> 00:15:53,786
asking if they could figure out a way
to get their investment out of Coachella
319
00:15:53,869 --> 00:15:55,329
and put it over towards Fyre.
320
00:15:55,955 --> 00:15:59,249
They advertised these incredible
ticket packages.
321
00:15:59,959 --> 00:16:04,672
They had the "rustic tent," that was
supposed to be kind of like a Coachella,
322
00:16:04,755 --> 00:16:06,423
glamorous scenario.
323
00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,009
And then they had private homes
324
00:16:09,343 --> 00:16:12,429
and then it went up
to like 250 grand for,
325
00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,517
you know, a private yacht
with a private chef on board.
326
00:16:17,142 --> 00:16:18,602
Within 48 hours,
327
00:16:18,686 --> 00:16:20,771
they sold 95% of their tickets.
328
00:16:21,271 --> 00:16:25,693
I think people thought that this
was one of the new hot things
329
00:16:25,776 --> 00:16:29,697
that was starting to take over
the American and global market.
330
00:16:29,863 --> 00:16:31,281
So now, you know,
331
00:16:31,699 --> 00:16:34,034
we hope everybody
comes and enjoys...
332
00:16:34,118 --> 00:16:37,121
the cultural experience of
the decade, Fyre Festival.
333
00:16:41,583 --> 00:16:44,003
I remember I first heard
about Fyre Festival
334
00:16:44,086 --> 00:16:47,006
at a music festival
conference in Las Vegas.
335
00:16:47,089 --> 00:16:49,091
Ja Rule was a keynote speaker
336
00:16:49,341 --> 00:16:52,594
and he unveiled this festival that
they were doing in the Bahamas
337
00:16:52,678 --> 00:16:55,597
and everyone at the table I was
sitting with just started laughing.
338
00:16:55,973 --> 00:16:57,891
They were like, "Yeah,
good luck, Ja Rule",
339
00:16:57,975 --> 00:17:00,394
build a music festival
'cause it's so easy."
340
00:17:00,477 --> 00:17:04,064
And there was this tinge of resentment,
kind of humoring it and all that.
341
00:17:04,148 --> 00:17:06,191
The industry insiders
were laughing.
342
00:17:06,275 --> 00:17:09,194
Fast forward two months later,
before I was introduced to Billy,
343
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:11,739
and I'm meeting with my friend
Max at Matte Productions,
344
00:17:11,822 --> 00:17:14,116
who produced the
influencer video.
345
00:17:14,324 --> 00:17:15,951
And when I when
I saw that video,
346
00:17:16,035 --> 00:17:19,496
I was like, "These guys are
either completely full of shit"
347
00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:21,373
or they're the smartest
guys in the room."
348
00:17:21,915 --> 00:17:23,125
So, I spoke to Max...
349
00:17:23,625 --> 00:17:25,085
and I asked him
what the deal was
350
00:17:25,169 --> 00:17:27,337
and he's like,
"No, they're legit"
351
00:17:27,421 --> 00:17:29,548
and they sold out the festival."
352
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,260
So, as a first-time festival producer
to sell out your music festival,
353
00:17:33,844 --> 00:17:35,304
it's a huge accomplishment.
354
00:17:37,431 --> 00:17:41,977
So we tried to fit 800 people here
and a concert for about 5,000 people.
355
00:17:42,061 --> 00:17:43,687
So, Norman's Cay is on this end.
356
00:17:44,021 --> 00:17:47,900
I knew the island. I've been going
to Bahamas for the past ten years,
357
00:17:47,983 --> 00:17:51,945
so my role in the beginning was just to
try to map it out and do the logistics.
358
00:17:52,029 --> 00:17:54,531
It's forty acres, right? So
one inch is a hundred feet.
359
00:17:54,615 --> 00:17:56,492
So, this is about 200 feet.
360
00:17:56,617 --> 00:17:59,161
- You're going to write off...
- Shit. My bad.
361
00:17:59,828 --> 00:18:02,289
On the floor plans.
362
00:18:02,372 --> 00:18:04,124
You ruined my
sewage calculations.
363
00:18:05,709 --> 00:18:09,421
Instead of thinking about models,
you have to think about toilets.
364
00:18:09,505 --> 00:18:10,714
We must buy lots of toilets.
365
00:18:10,798 --> 00:18:14,093
We gotta go to Home Depot and
buy a thousand toilets. I mean...
366
00:18:14,551 --> 00:18:15,969
The number of
tickets they'd sold,
367
00:18:16,053 --> 00:18:18,972
they couldn't physically fit
that many people on the island,
368
00:18:19,056 --> 00:18:21,308
let alone build some sort
of insane infrastructure
369
00:18:21,391 --> 00:18:24,937
that could support them
from a bio-waste standpoint.
370
00:18:25,104 --> 00:18:28,273
I didn't think it was possible to
fit over 1,000 people on that island
371
00:18:28,357 --> 00:18:30,692
so I had made a plan to
get a cruise ship.
372
00:18:30,984 --> 00:18:34,655
The tricky part is getting drunk
people off the island at night.
373
00:18:34,780 --> 00:18:37,491
To go to sleep on a cruise
ship on a little dinghy.
374
00:18:37,991 --> 00:18:39,952
We're not doing a
cruise ship anymore.
375
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:41,703
You're not doing
the cruise ship?
376
00:18:41,787 --> 00:18:43,789
Everybody is gonna
be on the islands.
377
00:18:48,335 --> 00:18:49,920
I'm not kidding.
378
00:18:50,003 --> 00:18:52,422
- Okay.
- They said it's possible.
379
00:18:53,590 --> 00:18:57,928
They really wanted to do tents,
so what I did is I took my wife
380
00:18:58,011 --> 00:19:00,514
and we tried to sleep
in a tent for one night
381
00:19:00,597 --> 00:19:03,308
and... it was so terrible,
382
00:19:03,392 --> 00:19:07,146
that, you know, this tent is just not
going to be safe and it's so loud,
383
00:19:07,437 --> 00:19:08,730
so many mosquitoes,
384
00:19:09,106 --> 00:19:12,109
To do these tents without air
conditioning is pretty brutal.
385
00:19:12,442 --> 00:19:14,862
It's just not possible, so I...
386
00:19:16,363 --> 00:19:18,991
I strongly recommended
against the tents.
387
00:19:20,242 --> 00:19:22,870
Keith raised a lot of
concerns about these things
388
00:19:23,078 --> 00:19:26,832
and then I think he was asked
to no longer be part of it.
389
00:19:28,667 --> 00:19:32,880
It's just Billy at some point told
me, "Listen, you need to step back.
390
00:19:32,963 --> 00:19:36,967
You know, we're going to go
with different people and...
391
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,471
"Yeah, thanks for your help
so far and, you know..."
392
00:19:41,972 --> 00:19:46,185
I wasn't the only one that was
changed out in February, March.
393
00:19:51,064 --> 00:19:53,192
They asked me to fly down
to the Bahamas to meet them.
394
00:19:54,067 --> 00:19:55,652
And I flew down there.
395
00:19:55,736 --> 00:19:58,030
When I was introduced to
them I was super excited
396
00:19:58,113 --> 00:20:02,326
to, you know, to participate in what
could be a really special event,
397
00:20:02,409 --> 00:20:05,454
if it was even half of what
they had promised their guests.
398
00:20:06,788 --> 00:20:08,665
Flying over the
islands from Miami
399
00:20:08,749 --> 00:20:11,752
and you see this water
and it was magic.
400
00:20:11,835 --> 00:20:13,837
I mean, I can't even
describe it to you.
401
00:20:14,129 --> 00:20:16,256
We were contacted perhaps...
402
00:20:17,049 --> 00:20:19,676
forty-five days out.
403
00:20:20,385 --> 00:20:23,597
We were asked to take a shot at
putting together a production for them.
404
00:20:24,097 --> 00:20:25,641
The timeframe was very short,
405
00:20:25,724 --> 00:20:29,019
but there was definitely a chance
of putting it all together.
406
00:20:31,146 --> 00:20:34,107
Billy talked to us, talked
to me and I loved his vision.
407
00:20:34,191 --> 00:20:36,902
I loved his ideas, his energy.
408
00:20:38,070 --> 00:20:42,282
We sat down and basically put
together a budget for him in a day,
409
00:20:42,366 --> 00:20:43,700
presented to him the next day.
410
00:20:43,784 --> 00:20:46,745
"Here are your hard facts, here
are your costs associated do this.
411
00:20:46,828 --> 00:20:48,628
And they said, "This is fine.
We can do this."
412
00:20:49,122 --> 00:20:51,458
And so roughly, what
was that number?
413
00:20:51,541 --> 00:20:53,669
I think it was maybe 38?
414
00:20:54,086 --> 00:20:55,629
- Thirty-eight million?
- Yeah.
415
00:20:55,879 --> 00:20:59,049
Billy came and said, "Can you
book the lineup for the festival?"
416
00:20:59,132 --> 00:21:04,471
I'm a 22, 23-year-old kid,
I've never booked talent for...
417
00:21:04,554 --> 00:21:06,056
Forget about for a festival.
418
00:21:06,765 --> 00:21:10,060
I remember the first artist
I got was Major Lazer.
419
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:12,938
I mean, grossly overpaid.
420
00:21:13,522 --> 00:21:16,233
And then Disclosure, Blink-182.
421
00:21:16,817 --> 00:21:20,821
The talent alone was three and a
half, four million dollars was spent.
422
00:21:21,238 --> 00:21:23,073
Most of the artists
they were working with
423
00:21:23,156 --> 00:21:26,159
were expecting a certain
level of production,
424
00:21:26,618 --> 00:21:28,120
a sufficient lighting package...
425
00:21:28,954 --> 00:21:30,622
a good enough sound system
426
00:21:30,706 --> 00:21:32,958
and, you know, we realized that
427
00:21:33,166 --> 00:21:37,713
they didn't really have any idea of
what it meant to book the artists
428
00:21:37,796 --> 00:21:38,839
that they were booking...
429
00:21:39,298 --> 00:21:41,550
what it meant to put
up a show like that.
430
00:21:41,967 --> 00:21:44,219
You know? "What did
this Billy do before?"
431
00:21:44,845 --> 00:21:47,306
"He's the visionary
behind Magnises."
432
00:21:47,472 --> 00:21:49,474
That's what they told me.
433
00:21:49,725 --> 00:21:52,060
"The visionary behind Magnises."
434
00:21:52,144 --> 00:21:53,562
What the hell is Magnises?
435
00:21:53,645 --> 00:21:56,315
Jessica, you're
chasing the story about
436
00:21:56,398 --> 00:21:59,735
the millennials' version of the black card.
What have you got?
437
00:21:59,818 --> 00:22:01,737
This is Magnises.
438
00:22:01,820 --> 00:22:04,156
It's the newest,
coolest credit card.
439
00:22:04,239 --> 00:22:05,466
The original vision was simple.
440
00:22:05,490 --> 00:22:08,285
We were just kids, we'd
figured out a way to turn
441
00:22:08,368 --> 00:22:10,454
boring, plastic cards into
442
00:22:10,537 --> 00:22:13,707
nice-looking, sleek,
stainless steel credit cards.
443
00:22:13,915 --> 00:22:15,500
It was black, the
thing was metal.
444
00:22:15,584 --> 00:22:17,836
It would make a big clank
when you put it down.
445
00:22:17,919 --> 00:22:20,881
The girls were like, "Holy hell,
what is that? What do you do?"
446
00:22:20,964 --> 00:22:22,299
We gained traction.
447
00:22:22,382 --> 00:22:25,135
We start growing across
the 1,500-member mark.
448
00:22:25,260 --> 00:22:27,554
We then decided to turn it
into a real membership club.
449
00:22:27,929 --> 00:22:31,058
Looking back to when I moved to New
York, I was looking for a community.
450
00:22:31,141 --> 00:22:33,143
I wanted perks and
guidance and, really,
451
00:22:33,226 --> 00:22:35,145
I wanted to be told
what to do, where to go
452
00:22:35,228 --> 00:22:36,748
where to find great
things in my city.
453
00:22:37,022 --> 00:22:38,690
So, we created Magnises.
454
00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:41,318
Billy really is one of the
world's greatest salesmen.
455
00:22:41,735 --> 00:22:43,862
He can convince anyone
of pretty much anything.
456
00:22:43,945 --> 00:22:46,990
Billy, I'm looking forward to the
day when I'll be working for you.
457
00:22:47,074 --> 00:22:50,285
I've known Billy probably
since he was 20 years old
458
00:22:50,369 --> 00:22:52,662
and Billy is an
amazing entrepreneur.
459
00:22:53,455 --> 00:22:57,334
This is a young kid who figured
out how to get these millennials
460
00:22:57,709 --> 00:22:59,086
and lock them in.
461
00:22:59,169 --> 00:23:00,879
So we take everybody
who has a card
462
00:23:00,962 --> 00:23:02,839
and create a lot of
networking opportunities.
463
00:23:02,923 --> 00:23:04,591
And we're partners
with local merchants -
464
00:23:04,674 --> 00:23:06,718
fashion stores,
restaurants, gyms.
465
00:23:06,927 --> 00:23:08,595
They offer deals and discounts,
466
00:23:08,678 --> 00:23:11,431
and the big thing they had was
this clubhouse in West Village.
467
00:23:11,515 --> 00:23:15,394
You could take dates and friends there
and that's where they had the events.
468
00:23:15,727 --> 00:23:19,064
I helped Billy design wine
tasting series and lecture series
469
00:23:19,147 --> 00:23:22,025
and many different things that
brought these kids together
470
00:23:22,109 --> 00:23:23,527
with a sense of community.
471
00:23:23,902 --> 00:23:27,656
The parties were unbelievable. They
had live music, booze and food...
472
00:23:27,739 --> 00:23:29,533
I saw Ja Rule a bunch.
473
00:23:29,866 --> 00:23:32,244
Ja Rule is taking his
talents to a new business.
474
00:23:32,619 --> 00:23:36,581
The rapper lending his creative mind
to an elite credit card for millenials.
475
00:23:36,706 --> 00:23:39,668
What we're doing with
Magnises is growing very fast.
476
00:23:39,793 --> 00:23:43,630
We built on an app, went digital.
We crossed the 10,000-member mark.
477
00:23:43,713 --> 00:23:46,425
We were taking in close to $2
million in membership fees.
478
00:23:48,427 --> 00:23:50,262
As we kept moving with Magnises,
479
00:23:50,345 --> 00:23:52,973
he wanted to penetrate
the New York upper class.
480
00:23:53,181 --> 00:23:56,476
He thought that the Maserati and
flying to meetings in private jets
481
00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:00,147
were necessary in his pursuit
of changing his external image
482
00:24:00,230 --> 00:24:04,317
and he thought that image would also
be a serious driver for the company.
483
00:24:05,152 --> 00:24:07,904
I hosted probably 40
events for Magnises
484
00:24:07,988 --> 00:24:10,949
and a lot of the members enjoyed
being a part of that community.
485
00:24:12,159 --> 00:24:15,412
That audience, I think, was the
audience that Billy was focused on
486
00:24:15,495 --> 00:24:17,456
as far as Fyre was
concerned as well...
487
00:24:17,664 --> 00:24:20,709
but it was a vision
that was so big...
488
00:24:21,376 --> 00:24:24,087
that it was not something that
was going to be easy to pull off.
489
00:24:29,926 --> 00:24:32,095
Could you imagine trying
to host a music festival,
490
00:24:32,179 --> 00:24:35,432
even on Miami Beach
or in Boston or LA?
491
00:24:35,515 --> 00:24:39,144
Almost impossible without an
incredibly big infrastructure.
492
00:24:39,227 --> 00:24:43,064
So, dial it up to a small
island in the Bahamas.
493
00:24:43,565 --> 00:24:46,651
It would probably be the most
difficult place you could do it.
494
00:24:47,777 --> 00:24:49,946
Billy called me and
he said, "Listen",
495
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,366
I need your help and I need you to get
to the Bahamas as soon as possible."
496
00:24:53,783 --> 00:24:57,913
And I flew in, not in any
role, except sort of subtly
497
00:24:58,288 --> 00:25:01,208
being the new leader
and being kind of...
498
00:25:01,875 --> 00:25:03,084
Billy's whisperer.
499
00:25:05,170 --> 00:25:07,005
To do a proper music festival,
500
00:25:07,088 --> 00:25:09,341
I would say you should
try to start the...
501
00:25:09,716 --> 00:25:13,470
the design and the fundraising,
everything at least 12 months out.
502
00:25:13,553 --> 00:25:17,098
The true core team that
came in literally had
503
00:25:17,182 --> 00:25:19,976
six to eight weeks to build
this thing and put it together.
504
00:25:23,605 --> 00:25:26,608
Were you ever aware that they
said they had bought an island?
505
00:25:26,691 --> 00:25:28,818
Yeah.
506
00:25:29,402 --> 00:25:30,654
It's like you couldn't...
507
00:25:31,112 --> 00:25:33,281
differentiate what was true
508
00:25:33,365 --> 00:25:34,950
and what wasn't true.
509
00:25:36,451 --> 00:25:37,911
I think we chose
the right island.
510
00:25:39,538 --> 00:25:40,747
We got ours for ten million.
511
00:25:40,956 --> 00:25:43,124
Freehold land, no lease.
We own the land forever.
512
00:25:43,416 --> 00:25:45,627
I think it was like, he
had to put a million down
513
00:25:45,710 --> 00:25:48,922
and then pay the rest by
a certain amount of time.
514
00:25:49,589 --> 00:25:52,008
I don't know if that
million was ever paid.
515
00:25:53,009 --> 00:25:55,637
This was Pablo Escobar's
island twenty-five years ago.
516
00:25:55,762 --> 00:25:58,932
So we're taking the dream for
your average person in America
517
00:25:59,015 --> 00:26:00,935
or wherever they are and
saying, "For three days,
518
00:26:01,017 --> 00:26:02,310
you can become Pablo Escobar."
519
00:26:03,353 --> 00:26:05,897
Billy was dealing with
Pablo Escobar's lawyer,
520
00:26:05,981 --> 00:26:08,483
he was dealing with
family members.
521
00:26:09,818 --> 00:26:12,529
Norman's Cay is rich in history
522
00:26:12,612 --> 00:26:15,907
with cocaine drug lords running
their drugs through the Bahamas.
523
00:26:16,783 --> 00:26:17,951
The owner of the Cay,
524
00:26:18,201 --> 00:26:20,662
he wanted a new
reputation for his Cay.
525
00:26:21,121 --> 00:26:23,623
They were told not to use
the word "Pablo Escobar"
526
00:26:23,790 --> 00:26:26,293
and then they used that in
the first social media tweets.
527
00:26:26,835 --> 00:26:29,546
The new owner saw the
first video promotion
528
00:26:29,963 --> 00:26:31,881
and he kicked us
off in one shot.
529
00:26:32,424 --> 00:26:34,259
Like, no questions asked.
530
00:26:34,884 --> 00:26:35,927
They were kicked off.
531
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,054
Six or eight weeks out,
532
00:26:38,138 --> 00:26:40,724
he had to find a new location
on a neighboring Island...
533
00:26:41,224 --> 00:26:43,268
and then start the whole
process all over again.
534
00:26:44,603 --> 00:26:48,064
We were constantly trying to move,
like, trying to find a new location
535
00:26:48,148 --> 00:26:49,774
and trying to find what fits.
536
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:52,694
Man, it just started
to get hectic.
537
00:26:53,111 --> 00:26:56,823
Then I went to another island, until
you finally got to Great Exuma,
538
00:26:57,449 --> 00:27:00,368
where it was at least the
biggest island in the Exumas
539
00:27:00,452 --> 00:27:01,995
so it had, you know...
540
00:27:02,787 --> 00:27:03,787
plumbing.
541
00:27:11,254 --> 00:27:15,800
American rapper, singer and actor Ja
Rule, also known as Jeffrey Atkins,
542
00:27:15,884 --> 00:27:18,094
is in the Bahamas with
his business partners
543
00:27:18,178 --> 00:27:21,473
to discuss the details
of a concert next month.
544
00:27:22,557 --> 00:27:27,354
Fyre was like the thing of the island.
Renting so much, rent-a-cars,
545
00:27:27,771 --> 00:27:29,773
big jets are flying in.
546
00:27:30,482 --> 00:27:33,735
Everybody was saying, "Hey, that's
Fyre, they have lots of money."
547
00:27:33,818 --> 00:27:35,612
They could do anything."
548
00:27:36,404 --> 00:27:38,782
We hope this is the
first of many steps
549
00:27:38,865 --> 00:27:42,786
to bring entertainment and
bring value back to the Bahamas.
550
00:27:43,203 --> 00:27:46,706
I was waiting for some shit like this
to happen in the Bahamas, to be real.
551
00:27:46,873 --> 00:27:50,168
You know, we never had
that many American artists,
552
00:27:50,251 --> 00:27:51,753
you know, on one stage.
553
00:27:52,170 --> 00:27:55,382
This was supposed to go on
for five years, every year.
554
00:27:56,132 --> 00:28:00,011
So, if you do good, you
were asked for five years.
555
00:28:00,095 --> 00:28:03,682
You got the contract, so you wanted
to live up to the expectations.
556
00:28:06,559 --> 00:28:08,061
They had the site.
557
00:28:08,395 --> 00:28:10,063
They let us onto the property...
558
00:28:10,438 --> 00:28:11,940
and we looked at it.
559
00:28:12,023 --> 00:28:14,234
And that's when some of the
questions started to rise.
560
00:28:14,734 --> 00:28:15,734
The site...
561
00:28:16,152 --> 00:28:17,946
was on a hill...
562
00:28:18,238 --> 00:28:19,406
and at the base,
563
00:28:19,698 --> 00:28:23,576
what I saw was, pretty
much, a housing development
564
00:28:23,660 --> 00:28:24,994
construction site...
565
00:28:25,453 --> 00:28:30,291
that was hazardous in many ways
and that needed a lot of work.
566
00:28:30,667 --> 00:28:34,212
You know there's going to be hiccups,
there's gonna be things to be addressed.
567
00:28:34,295 --> 00:28:38,216
It's a first-year festival on an
island and you find solutions.
568
00:28:38,299 --> 00:28:40,176
We said, "Here's what
you should think about,"
569
00:28:40,635 --> 00:28:42,387
you know, here's
what your tenting is,
570
00:28:42,470 --> 00:28:43,972
you know, the geodesic domes...
571
00:28:44,055 --> 00:28:45,741
"Here's what it's going
to cost to set up."
572
00:28:45,765 --> 00:28:46,766
And...
573
00:28:46,850 --> 00:28:47,850
away we went.
574
00:28:51,104 --> 00:28:53,982
What's crazy is they
booked the festival
575
00:28:54,607 --> 00:28:57,944
during the busiest weekend
of the year on Great Exuma.
576
00:28:58,027 --> 00:28:59,227
It's like the Superbowl there.
577
00:28:59,279 --> 00:29:01,239
It's called the
National Regatta,
578
00:29:01,448 --> 00:29:04,033
and the island basically
doubles in population size
579
00:29:04,367 --> 00:29:08,288
and all of the hotels get booked
months, maybe a year in advance.
580
00:29:09,372 --> 00:29:11,124
Billy had sold a villa package,
581
00:29:11,458 --> 00:29:14,043
and these people were
essentially staying in an Airbnb,
582
00:29:14,836 --> 00:29:18,798
so we had to find houses all
across the island for 500 guests.
583
00:29:19,924 --> 00:29:21,885
To make it worse,
they had oversold
584
00:29:22,135 --> 00:29:23,845
their "Lodge" packages,
585
00:29:23,928 --> 00:29:26,097
which were these tents
on the main site.
586
00:29:27,182 --> 00:29:28,822
And then the word
comes down from the top
587
00:29:28,892 --> 00:29:31,644
that all influencers will
get housing for free.
588
00:29:32,979 --> 00:29:34,272
So I start calling influencers.
589
00:29:34,355 --> 00:29:36,649
I was the first voice
that they had heard
590
00:29:36,983 --> 00:29:38,318
since they posted.
591
00:29:38,401 --> 00:29:42,405
Each influencer, and there
were about 250 influencers,
592
00:29:42,489 --> 00:29:44,240
were promised, for a post,
593
00:29:44,783 --> 00:29:45,867
for one post...
594
00:29:46,367 --> 00:29:49,537
a one-bedroom, three-person
villa on the beach...
595
00:29:51,372 --> 00:29:52,582
that didn't exist.
596
00:29:53,958 --> 00:29:55,460
I started talking to Billy...
597
00:29:55,543 --> 00:29:57,212
and from the get-go,
it was, you know,
598
00:29:57,295 --> 00:30:00,131
we were all running around, scrambling,
every day to find new houses.
599
00:30:00,215 --> 00:30:02,634
"We need help from you
guys, start to cut people."
600
00:30:03,009 --> 00:30:05,220
These people aren't
paying for the experience.
601
00:30:06,137 --> 00:30:07,388
"Tell them not to come."
602
00:30:07,597 --> 00:30:10,725
And it was a constant battle
because what they cared most about
603
00:30:11,309 --> 00:30:12,644
was the influencers.
604
00:30:13,353 --> 00:30:16,314
So I'm imploring them to cancel
paying guests at this point.
605
00:30:16,397 --> 00:30:19,818
"They're not gonna have a place to
stay." And the response from Billy was,
606
00:30:19,901 --> 00:30:23,071
"We're not a problems focus group.
We're a solutions-oriented group.
607
00:30:23,154 --> 00:30:26,241
We need to have a positive attitude
about this. We need a good attitude."
608
00:30:26,324 --> 00:30:30,453
And he was unflappable but he
was also entirely delusional.
609
00:30:30,912 --> 00:30:34,874
So it was this constant
battle in my mind between,
610
00:30:35,166 --> 00:30:38,086
"Is this guy a genius
or is he a madman?"
611
00:30:38,253 --> 00:30:42,131
Because he just would not take "no" for
an answer and he wouldn't take advice.
612
00:30:42,215 --> 00:30:44,133
Where do you stand now?
613
00:30:44,551 --> 00:30:45,551
He's a liar.
614
00:30:51,850 --> 00:30:55,478
Billy McFarland first got on my
radar living here in New York.
615
00:30:56,563 --> 00:30:58,523
He was running a
company called Magnises.
616
00:30:58,857 --> 00:31:02,694
I had a number of friends then
that did get the Magnises card
617
00:31:02,777 --> 00:31:04,362
when they started offering
618
00:31:04,654 --> 00:31:09,492
access to elite tickets at a
cost well below the market rate.
619
00:31:10,243 --> 00:31:12,078
The whole thing didn't
make sense to me.
620
00:31:13,788 --> 00:31:16,207
People that I've spoken
to that were cardholders
621
00:31:16,291 --> 00:31:19,502
recount having their reservations
canceled at the last minute,
622
00:31:19,586 --> 00:31:21,629
so it seemed very hard
for people to actually
623
00:31:21,713 --> 00:31:24,173
access any of the benefits
that they were promised
624
00:31:24,591 --> 00:31:28,595
And so, this guy was always out
there, just running hustles...
625
00:31:28,928 --> 00:31:30,513
that were sort of slick,
626
00:31:30,597 --> 00:31:35,184
but then not necessarily, in my
mind, something that was by the book.
627
00:31:37,645 --> 00:31:40,940
I vividly remember the
Fyre festival video.
628
00:31:41,608 --> 00:31:43,484
This video was
everywhere on Facebook
629
00:31:43,568 --> 00:31:47,614
and I see a few of the bands
that I actually work with
630
00:31:47,697 --> 00:31:50,450
listed as headliners
for this festival.
631
00:31:51,075 --> 00:31:53,036
So I immediately called
the agents and I say,
632
00:31:53,119 --> 00:31:55,455
"Hey, look, this thing
doesn't make sense to me,"
633
00:31:55,538 --> 00:31:58,458
and they start saying, "It
doesn't make sense to us either.
634
00:31:58,541 --> 00:32:02,629
These guys are promising to pay
two X what our market value is."
635
00:32:02,837 --> 00:32:05,632
I say, "Have they sent the money?"
and they say, "Funny that you ask,
636
00:32:05,715 --> 00:32:07,592
No, they haven't sent
the money for it yet."
637
00:32:07,675 --> 00:32:09,761
I say, "Okay. This
is interesting."
638
00:32:10,637 --> 00:32:13,389
I take a more active role
639
00:32:13,806 --> 00:32:17,393
in investigating everything that
was going on with Fyre Festival.
640
00:32:18,353 --> 00:32:23,358
What I realized was that they had
rented an area north of Sandals Resort
641
00:32:23,441 --> 00:32:27,946
and then effectively photoshopped
out the bottom portion of the map
642
00:32:28,029 --> 00:32:30,615
to make it look like they
were on a deserted island.
643
00:32:30,698 --> 00:32:33,493
I thought, "The world's
gotta know what's going on."
644
00:32:33,576 --> 00:32:38,122
So I create the now-infamous
Twitter account, FyreFraud.
645
00:32:41,417 --> 00:32:43,836
I thought, "Okay, I'm going
to put this out there"
646
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:45,380
and people are going to see this
647
00:32:45,463 --> 00:32:47,298
"and everyone's going
to know it's bogus,"
648
00:32:47,382 --> 00:32:49,133
and nothing happened.
649
00:32:49,217 --> 00:32:53,346
I got maybe two or three clicks
on Twitter and that was it.
650
00:32:53,429 --> 00:32:56,140
So I said, "All right, we
gotta hit 'em a little harder."
651
00:32:57,850 --> 00:33:00,937
What we ended up doing was
taking a plane down there
652
00:33:01,020 --> 00:33:04,273
and photographing the development
and what they were working on.
653
00:33:05,233 --> 00:33:07,193
One of the things that
really struck me
654
00:33:07,276 --> 00:33:09,612
was that they were
erecting these dome tents
655
00:33:09,696 --> 00:33:12,615
that were pitched as "luxury
villas" that I realized
656
00:33:12,699 --> 00:33:15,743
were leftover hurricane
tents from Hurricane Matthew.
657
00:33:17,328 --> 00:33:21,749
That is a far stretch from a
luxury villa on a deserted island.
658
00:33:22,333 --> 00:33:25,169
I realized very quickly
that there was no way
659
00:33:25,294 --> 00:33:28,006
that these guys were going
to be able to pull this off.
660
00:33:34,929 --> 00:33:36,806
We were building a
city within a city
661
00:33:37,181 --> 00:33:39,225
in terms of waste disposal,
662
00:33:39,308 --> 00:33:41,602
in terms of restrooms, water.
663
00:33:42,186 --> 00:33:43,604
It was a fucking shit show,
664
00:33:43,938 --> 00:33:46,899
but we were doing everything
that we could possibly do.
665
00:33:47,191 --> 00:33:50,361
They're frantically
building the site.
666
00:33:51,279 --> 00:33:55,324
You know, 100 day laborers working
around the clock, no sleep.
667
00:33:55,533 --> 00:33:59,203
It was just this mass,
big crew of local workers.
668
00:33:59,579 --> 00:34:03,291
Billy paid them off and then he was
like, "You know, we need more guys.
669
00:34:03,624 --> 00:34:04,959
We need more workers."
670
00:34:05,043 --> 00:34:07,545
Billy paid them for the
next three days and then...
671
00:34:07,628 --> 00:34:10,548
Billy's like, "Bring more workers.
We need more workers."
672
00:34:10,631 --> 00:34:13,301
And then it was starting to
get too much for me to handle.
673
00:34:13,384 --> 00:34:17,055
They had every living soul
on the island of Exuma
674
00:34:18,222 --> 00:34:21,309
who could lift a towel, working.
675
00:34:21,976 --> 00:34:26,147
My gosh, there had to have been,
probably at some point, 200 people.
676
00:34:26,564 --> 00:34:28,649
I had to feed all the staff.
677
00:34:28,733 --> 00:34:33,821
Basically, that was taking on the
whole Fyre operation under my wings.
678
00:34:34,864 --> 00:34:37,325
I'd gone down to the
Bahamas with some friends
679
00:34:37,575 --> 00:34:42,080
and just coincidentally we actually
ran into Ja Rule and Billy down there
680
00:34:42,163 --> 00:34:46,501
and then they offered to take
us on a little tour of the site.
681
00:34:47,919 --> 00:34:51,547
It was beautiful, you know, but
it's just like a big giant bluff
682
00:34:51,631 --> 00:34:54,842
overlooking the ocean. There
are no buildings, there's no...
683
00:34:55,426 --> 00:34:59,347
access to electricity or running
water or any of that type of stuff.
684
00:35:00,223 --> 00:35:01,599
We were just kind of like,
685
00:35:01,933 --> 00:35:04,769
concerned, really, there was no
infrastructure in place, you know,
686
00:35:04,852 --> 00:35:08,064
but at the same time, they
sounded fairly confident
687
00:35:08,147 --> 00:35:11,317
about their ability to
get this thing done.
688
00:35:14,362 --> 00:35:16,405
How is it non-negotiable?
689
00:35:16,489 --> 00:35:19,117
When you guys are not the
headlining act at a bigger festival,
690
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,703
you guys don't get top of billing.
I mean, in our contract...
691
00:35:24,747 --> 00:35:27,834
I understand. I mean,
it's a font size.
692
00:35:29,252 --> 00:35:31,963
You had people working
24 hours a day.
693
00:35:32,171 --> 00:35:35,550
I had to work basically two days
in one because of Fyre Media
694
00:35:36,008 --> 00:35:37,635
and then Fyre Festival.
695
00:35:37,927 --> 00:35:41,389
I noticed the people that were involved
in going back and forth to the Bahamas,
696
00:35:41,472 --> 00:35:44,058
in the planning, they were
becoming growingly frustrated.
697
00:35:44,142 --> 00:35:45,518
They would come to me and like,
698
00:35:45,601 --> 00:35:47,496
"What are you working on
with the booking platform?"
699
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,314
I can't wait to get back on
this side of the business
700
00:35:50,398 --> 00:35:53,151
"because the festival stuff
is just becoming chaotic."
701
00:35:53,317 --> 00:35:56,821
We just knew very little about what
was happening on the festival side,
702
00:35:56,946 --> 00:35:59,907
except, you know, the persistent
feeling of growing dread.
703
00:36:00,074 --> 00:36:02,952
Every single day, it got
endlessly more tense.
704
00:36:03,161 --> 00:36:06,372
We would be at standstill
sometimes for weeks
705
00:36:06,455 --> 00:36:09,059
not being able to get that final
sign off or move through on things
706
00:36:09,083 --> 00:36:12,795
because he was completely, you know,
succumbed to the festival needs.
707
00:36:13,296 --> 00:36:16,465
Spending money at an
outrageous cost and speed.
708
00:36:16,674 --> 00:36:20,636
I wasn't sure if it was startup
woes, just like "unorganization",
709
00:36:20,761 --> 00:36:24,640
or if it was actually financial trouble,
but sometimes payments would be late.
710
00:36:25,766 --> 00:36:27,268
Friday afternoon,
711
00:36:27,351 --> 00:36:31,147
our favorite topic is, "Did you get
paid and was it for the right amount?"
712
00:36:31,772 --> 00:36:36,777
and Michael once was like, "Yeah, I
got paid, but it was in a bag of cash."
713
00:36:38,112 --> 00:36:40,406
I knew that cash flow
was becoming an issue,
714
00:36:40,698 --> 00:36:43,034
but Billy handled
all the finances.
715
00:36:43,784 --> 00:36:44,702
At that point,
716
00:36:44,785 --> 00:36:47,872
Billy had said, "Listen, we're
into this for 25 million bucks."
717
00:36:47,955 --> 00:36:50,333
I'm like, "Oh, my
gosh, Billy, jeepers."
718
00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:55,171
The word from people that knew Billy
was that he was a magician fundraiser
719
00:36:55,296 --> 00:36:57,048
and he just kept pulling
money in, somehow.
720
00:36:57,798 --> 00:37:01,052
Billy would get on a jet, he'd
fly to New York and he'd come back
721
00:37:01,135 --> 00:37:03,262
and somehow have another
three million bucks
722
00:37:03,346 --> 00:37:07,183
in his pocket to pull off
the next level of needs.
723
00:37:08,434 --> 00:37:10,853
Carola was one of
the many investors.
724
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,189
She was a big believer in Billy.
725
00:37:13,439 --> 00:37:17,735
She was there from his earliest
venture, Magnesis, and then Fyre.
726
00:37:18,152 --> 00:37:20,821
She had always been around,
always supporting this kid
727
00:37:20,905 --> 00:37:24,617
and always believing in his ability
to become the next big entrepreneur.
728
00:37:24,951 --> 00:37:28,120
We can figure out how to make an extra
three, four, five million dollars.
729
00:37:28,663 --> 00:37:30,790
Whether it's higher-tier
artist passes,
730
00:37:30,873 --> 00:37:33,876
food and alcohol passes,
VIP party passes,
731
00:37:34,043 --> 00:37:37,296
the Kendall Jenner yacht party
for $10,000 a head for 100 people.
732
00:37:37,380 --> 00:37:40,716
Billy had a vision, you know,
and he was definitely thinking
733
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:45,096
of every little twist
that he could come up with
734
00:37:45,179 --> 00:37:46,973
to raise the money
to make it happen.
735
00:37:47,056 --> 00:37:50,476
One, an audience who has cash,
736
00:37:50,559 --> 00:37:52,645
and us, we have the
celebrity, we have the island.
737
00:37:52,728 --> 00:37:55,248
There's ways we can monetize both,
we're gonna make that happen.
738
00:37:55,314 --> 00:37:56,732
I overheard a conversation,
739
00:37:56,816 --> 00:37:59,318
"Let's put up a
cabaña for $50,000
740
00:37:59,402 --> 00:38:00,987
and see if anyone buys it."
741
00:38:01,821 --> 00:38:04,021
And I remember thinking, "Do
you have a cabaña to sell?"
742
00:38:04,073 --> 00:38:07,076
Because I'm feeling concerned that
you're not thinking about that
743
00:38:07,159 --> 00:38:10,454
"before you are putting it live
on the site for someone to buy."
744
00:38:17,962 --> 00:38:21,632
So, this website came out.
It was, like, "fyrecay.com."
745
00:38:22,008 --> 00:38:25,386
And the site's sole purpose
was to destroy this festival.
746
00:38:25,803 --> 00:38:28,514
It was getting fed direct
information and photos
747
00:38:28,597 --> 00:38:30,808
of the site that was
totally unfinished.
748
00:38:31,267 --> 00:38:33,436
News that was happening
by the day that only
749
00:38:33,519 --> 00:38:36,522
pretty senior people in the
festival knew what was happening.
750
00:38:38,274 --> 00:38:39,900
It was almost like WikiLeaks.
751
00:38:39,984 --> 00:38:43,362
We were having these confidential
meetings and then things from that meeting
752
00:38:43,446 --> 00:38:45,364
were actually getting
out, word for word.
753
00:38:46,824 --> 00:38:49,410
So we knew someone actually in
the meeting had been wired up.
754
00:38:49,702 --> 00:38:52,413
So we were all called to the
war room to have a meeting
755
00:38:52,705 --> 00:38:54,874
and it was basically
a witch hunt meeting.
756
00:38:55,166 --> 00:38:57,543
It was, "If you are the person"
757
00:38:57,835 --> 00:39:01,005
or people that are sending this
information to this website,
758
00:39:01,339 --> 00:39:03,132
we will pursue legal action,
759
00:39:03,299 --> 00:39:05,509
you will leave this island,
you will not get paid
760
00:39:05,593 --> 00:39:06,927
"and we'll come after you."
761
00:39:07,345 --> 00:39:10,639
The guy that put together
Fyrecay was extorting Billy.
762
00:39:11,057 --> 00:39:12,892
Billy wanted him to
take the website down.
763
00:39:12,975 --> 00:39:16,354
He said he would only do
it if the Fyre Festival
764
00:39:16,437 --> 00:39:19,315
started releasing actual
photos of the campsites.
765
00:39:19,398 --> 00:39:21,108
And I just kept saying to Billy,
766
00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:26,947
"We need to get the messaging out now
that this is not a luxury music festival."
767
00:39:27,031 --> 00:39:29,367
People aren't staying on
yachts, at least, most aren't,
768
00:39:29,450 --> 00:39:30,910
many are not staying in villas
769
00:39:30,993 --> 00:39:34,705
"and if you can get that messaging out now,
we will be able to manage expectations."
770
00:39:34,789 --> 00:39:36,624
You know? Like here's the reality.
Just do it
771
00:39:36,999 --> 00:39:39,335
and people will make
their own decisions on it.
772
00:39:39,418 --> 00:39:40,961
But you have got to be honest.
773
00:39:41,045 --> 00:39:43,506
Here's what it is. Here's
the tents, you know?
774
00:39:43,589 --> 00:39:45,800
People are going to find out
sooner or later, so, like,
775
00:39:46,008 --> 00:39:47,676
why are you walking around...
776
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:50,304
trying to dodge the inevitable?
777
00:39:54,767 --> 00:39:57,061
We were gearing up.
We were ready to go.
778
00:39:57,144 --> 00:40:00,064
We're, like, going to the gym,
having this grand old time.
779
00:40:00,815 --> 00:40:04,318
We would go on these jogs every
morning to get ready for Fyre Festival.
780
00:40:04,402 --> 00:40:07,822
Like, powering around town. "We're
going on this great vacation."
781
00:40:07,905 --> 00:40:09,323
We're going to
have such a blast.
782
00:40:09,407 --> 00:40:11,534
We're going to meet all
these people and have this...
783
00:40:11,617 --> 00:40:13,786
"just truly fantastic
experience."
784
00:40:13,869 --> 00:40:15,538
I mean, it was so exciting.
785
00:40:18,958 --> 00:40:21,377
On April 22nd, I get an email.
786
00:40:21,836 --> 00:40:24,672
"I noticed you hadn't created
your Fyreband account yet."
787
00:40:24,755 --> 00:40:27,716
It is your wallet for the
weekend, so load it appropriately.
788
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,470
The majority of our guests have
added $3,000 for the weekend.
789
00:40:31,929 --> 00:40:36,225
But if you want to reserve tables or
take part in the add-on experiences,
790
00:40:36,559 --> 00:40:38,519
"you will want to
put on much more."
791
00:40:38,602 --> 00:40:44,150
Billy wanted the engineers to set up
payment through this RFID bracelet.
792
00:40:44,233 --> 00:40:48,654
We all said that was insane based on
the wireless communication issues.
793
00:40:48,737 --> 00:40:50,739
I mean, this was
never tested out.
794
00:40:50,865 --> 00:40:53,993
The urgency wasn't, "Let's
make this a cashless experience
795
00:40:54,076 --> 00:40:55,911
for our festival attendees."
796
00:40:55,995 --> 00:40:58,998
It was, "We can't put on the Fyre
Festival because we don't have any money."
797
00:41:00,291 --> 00:41:03,252
I received a call from a woman
798
00:41:03,377 --> 00:41:06,547
asking me, I would
say, very aggressively
799
00:41:06,630 --> 00:41:09,592
to put money on my wristband.
800
00:41:09,675 --> 00:41:13,554
They wanted you to buy jet
ski things, a private plane.
801
00:41:14,221 --> 00:41:16,140
It was a staggering
amount of money.
802
00:41:16,223 --> 00:41:18,100
The first batch of
kids had loaded...
803
00:41:19,852 --> 00:41:23,189
$800,000 on these wristbands.
804
00:41:23,272 --> 00:41:25,232
You know, you've spent all
this money on a ticket,
805
00:41:25,316 --> 00:41:28,194
and now the same amount of money
on the wristband, it seemed...
806
00:41:28,277 --> 00:41:29,278
sort of peculiar.
807
00:41:32,156 --> 00:41:35,868
So now we're down to probably ten days
left to the festival at this point.
808
00:41:36,202 --> 00:41:40,915
They didn't have enough tents and
350 people would have nowhere to stay
809
00:41:40,998 --> 00:41:43,959
and by the way, houses that we
sourced weren't getting paid.
810
00:41:46,212 --> 00:41:49,298
So this was now becoming clear
that there wasn't any money.
811
00:41:49,590 --> 00:41:52,635
Because homeowners were
like, "You sent me a wire...
812
00:41:53,010 --> 00:41:55,387
five days ago and I haven't
received any funds."
813
00:41:55,596 --> 00:41:58,557
I had an explicit phone call
from one of the management team
814
00:41:58,641 --> 00:42:01,352
to stop telling Carola
about the housing situation,
815
00:42:01,435 --> 00:42:03,562
because they were trying to
get more money from her...
816
00:42:04,104 --> 00:42:06,106
and that my emails
were alarming her...
817
00:42:06,482 --> 00:42:09,151
and they outright told
me to be dishonest.
818
00:42:10,569 --> 00:42:13,781
And you have to realize I got paid
30% of my fee, so they're hanging...
819
00:42:13,864 --> 00:42:15,866
My fee's not due until
the day of the event,
820
00:42:15,950 --> 00:42:19,119
so they're hanging 70% of my
fee over my head like a carrot.
821
00:42:20,329 --> 00:42:22,623
Every day, something
else would happen.
822
00:42:22,706 --> 00:42:24,792
Every hour, something
else would happen.
823
00:42:25,376 --> 00:42:27,127
Every minute, there'd
be another obstacle.
824
00:42:27,836 --> 00:42:29,505
We had a $6 million contract
825
00:42:29,588 --> 00:42:31,674
with Star Catering to
handle all the food service
826
00:42:31,757 --> 00:42:34,301
and we only had $1
million allocated.
827
00:42:34,385 --> 00:42:36,178
And Billy fired
them over the phone.
828
00:42:36,262 --> 00:42:39,306
And then he hung up the phone.
I stood there and he said...
829
00:42:40,266 --> 00:42:41,559
"Can you salvage this?"
830
00:42:41,642 --> 00:42:44,395
And I said, "Oh, my gosh,
I have two weeks to come up..."
831
00:42:44,728 --> 00:42:48,566
with food service for 6,000 kids?
This is going to be fascinating."
832
00:42:50,025 --> 00:42:51,527
Grant, who was on the call,
833
00:42:51,610 --> 00:42:53,737
pulled out the proposal
from Star and said,
834
00:42:53,821 --> 00:42:56,574
"I told them I wanted
sushi chefs coming in,"
835
00:42:56,657 --> 00:42:59,743
and, "I needed to
see Indian cuisine,"
836
00:42:59,827 --> 00:43:03,247
and I thought, "Gosh, Grant,
you've missed the boat here."
837
00:43:03,497 --> 00:43:06,500
We are not spending $6 million,
we can only spend $1 million
838
00:43:06,584 --> 00:43:08,669
"and I'm eliminating
all of that."
839
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:13,299
At this point in time,
840
00:43:13,382 --> 00:43:16,051
there had been no progress
pictures, no updated videos.
841
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,471
They were using the same
footage and photographs
842
00:43:19,805 --> 00:43:21,849
from that first
promotional video
843
00:43:21,932 --> 00:43:25,102
in all of the subsequent
promotional content.
844
00:43:25,269 --> 00:43:27,313
The media and marketing
companies in New York,
845
00:43:27,396 --> 00:43:31,275
we didn't have any visibility into what
was happening on the production side.
846
00:43:31,859 --> 00:43:36,822
We're building out this vision that was
based around this kind of visual facade.
847
00:43:37,740 --> 00:43:41,577
We noticed quite quickly that all of
the original sketches of the rooms
848
00:43:41,660 --> 00:43:44,079
that we had signed up for
got taken off the page.
849
00:43:44,413 --> 00:43:48,250
That was sort of when we started trying
to dig a little bit more and see,
850
00:43:48,792 --> 00:43:51,420
"Oh, can you send us pictures
of the accommodations?"
851
00:43:51,712 --> 00:43:55,758
You had people asking very
legitimate questions on Instagram.
852
00:43:56,342 --> 00:43:59,762
They were trying to book flights,
trying to understand logistics.
853
00:44:00,638 --> 00:44:03,557
We just started getting bombarded
with all these questions.
854
00:44:04,558 --> 00:44:07,102
Grant was trying to use our
employees for customer service,
855
00:44:07,186 --> 00:44:09,355
but that wasn't what
we were hired to do.
856
00:44:09,980 --> 00:44:12,983
The only thing we could do was
to just keep telling people,
857
00:44:13,359 --> 00:44:16,654
"Email concierge@fyre.com."
858
00:44:16,862 --> 00:44:19,073
And then we would get
another request saying,
859
00:44:19,156 --> 00:44:20,908
"concierge@fyre.com
didn't respond."
860
00:44:22,368 --> 00:44:25,204
The unanswered questions
turned to people criticizing...
861
00:44:25,663 --> 00:44:27,331
It was very annoying.
862
00:44:27,498 --> 00:44:29,375
I was like, "This is
terrible customer service.
863
00:44:29,458 --> 00:44:33,045
They need to know better. They're
throwing this luxury festival..."
864
00:44:33,629 --> 00:44:36,090
And then you'd have Grant
reaching outand saying,
865
00:44:36,173 --> 00:44:37,675
"These comments are killing us.
866
00:44:37,758 --> 00:44:40,260
What do we do about all the
people that are talking shit?"
867
00:44:41,220 --> 00:44:45,349
The decision was to screenshot
all of the legitimate questions
868
00:44:45,432 --> 00:44:47,434
and forward that
over to the Fyre team
869
00:44:47,768 --> 00:44:50,270
and then delete all of
the negative comments
870
00:44:50,354 --> 00:44:51,980
that were degrading the brand.
871
00:44:52,690 --> 00:44:54,692
I saw them actively
deleting comments
872
00:44:54,942 --> 00:44:57,152
and then turning
comments off entirely
873
00:44:57,528 --> 00:45:00,406
so that you wouldn't
have 3,000 people saying,
874
00:45:00,489 --> 00:45:04,034
"Hey, I don't have my flight information.
Where do I need to go?"
875
00:45:12,751 --> 00:45:15,754
So as me and Billy was riding
back towards the site...
876
00:45:17,297 --> 00:45:21,051
You know, he was like... Kinda
like panicky look, you know?
877
00:45:21,552 --> 00:45:22,552
So he's like,
878
00:45:22,886 --> 00:45:26,140
"What do you think? You
think we can get this done?
879
00:45:26,348 --> 00:45:27,725
I said, "What do you mean?"
880
00:45:27,808 --> 00:45:30,644
"You think we can get everything
done before Thursday?"
881
00:45:31,395 --> 00:45:32,229
So...
882
00:45:32,354 --> 00:45:34,314
Me saying to myself
right there, I say,
883
00:45:34,773 --> 00:45:37,776
"You want to lie to him or you
just want to speak the truth?"
884
00:45:37,860 --> 00:45:40,821
'Cause sometimes the
truth can come pretty,
885
00:45:40,904 --> 00:45:43,282
and then sometimes the
truth can just come ugly.
886
00:45:43,449 --> 00:45:44,616
So, I was like,
887
00:45:45,784 --> 00:45:48,412
"Billy, being honest,
I think we could do it."
888
00:45:48,495 --> 00:45:51,206
But we need some more time.
We need to do some overtime
889
00:45:51,373 --> 00:45:55,169
"and we need to just push...
We need to do more hours."
890
00:45:57,463 --> 00:45:59,590
Every day we met, every
day, we would talk about,
891
00:45:59,673 --> 00:46:02,426
"Okay, should we pull the plug or
should we keep this thing going?"
892
00:46:02,509 --> 00:46:03,927
And every day, Billy would say,
893
00:46:04,011 --> 00:46:07,055
"We can't pull the plug. We've
got to keep this thing going."
894
00:46:07,139 --> 00:46:10,934
"You can't have people come,
this is not going to work."
895
00:46:11,018 --> 00:46:13,145
Verbatim. It was like...
896
00:46:13,228 --> 00:46:15,105
"If you want to
leave, you can leave.
897
00:46:15,272 --> 00:46:18,358
If you're not going to leave,
we're here to find solutions."
898
00:46:18,442 --> 00:46:21,570
And I would step outside,
right after each meeting,
899
00:46:21,653 --> 00:46:25,365
literally go out on the
porch and burst into tears.
900
00:46:25,741 --> 00:46:29,828
Never in my career did I ever do
this, but there I would be, thinking,
901
00:46:29,912 --> 00:46:30,996
"Holy shit."
902
00:46:32,164 --> 00:46:33,165
So I sent an email.
903
00:46:33,665 --> 00:46:35,334
"Guys, we're running
out of time."
904
00:46:35,417 --> 00:46:39,129
I've tried to warn you multiple times,
but my words have fallen on deaf ears.
905
00:46:39,713 --> 00:46:42,382
We are one day out without
enough beds to safely house
906
00:46:42,466 --> 00:46:45,219
our staff, our VIP guests
and our paid customers.
907
00:46:45,594 --> 00:46:48,388
"You need to cancel more
guests, immediately."
908
00:46:48,472 --> 00:46:52,309
I was basically like, "I know that
you're worried about press blowback",
909
00:46:52,601 --> 00:46:56,939
but imagine a scenario where 350
people arrive onto a remote island,
910
00:46:57,022 --> 00:46:59,066
are herded onto
yellow school buses,
911
00:46:59,149 --> 00:47:01,318
brought to a festival
site that's unfinished
912
00:47:01,401 --> 00:47:03,278
and realize they've
no place to sleep
913
00:47:03,529 --> 00:47:06,114
and to make it worse, they
have no way to get home,
914
00:47:06,198 --> 00:47:08,784
because we don't have any charter
flights booked back for them.
915
00:47:08,867 --> 00:47:13,247
"I know you're worried about the press,
but there's no worse situation than that."
916
00:47:13,914 --> 00:47:15,040
And the response?
917
00:47:15,541 --> 00:47:16,583
The response was,
918
00:47:16,750 --> 00:47:19,586
"At least they'll see your
smiling face and yoga skills."
919
00:47:21,338 --> 00:47:23,882
'Cause I was supposed to be the
yoga instructor for the event.
920
00:47:25,259 --> 00:47:26,260
Okay.
921
00:47:26,385 --> 00:47:28,720
Like, what am I supposed to do?
You know? Like, I'm...
922
00:47:30,472 --> 00:47:31,472
"All right, sure."
923
00:47:37,312 --> 00:47:39,815
Billy was under such
immense financial pressure
924
00:47:40,190 --> 00:47:42,526
that he effectively had
to put this festival on
925
00:47:42,609 --> 00:47:44,945
because otherwise he wasn't
going to be able to repay
926
00:47:45,028 --> 00:47:48,907
any of the factor receivables
that he had raised money from.
927
00:47:49,575 --> 00:47:52,953
It's the same thing as an
individual going to a loan shark.
928
00:47:53,537 --> 00:47:56,498
No matter what happened, this
money was going to be owed.
929
00:47:57,541 --> 00:48:00,419
They had told investors
who had already given money
930
00:48:00,502 --> 00:48:03,213
that, in the event of a cancellation,
that they would be covered
931
00:48:03,297 --> 00:48:04,548
when in fact they weren't.
932
00:48:04,631 --> 00:48:08,552
And they didn't have festival insurance,
so canceling really wasn't an option.
933
00:48:09,928 --> 00:48:11,805
I mean, this was
truly a disaster.
934
00:48:12,306 --> 00:48:14,099
And events always
feel like a disaster.
935
00:48:14,182 --> 00:48:17,352
They always feel like everything's going
wrong and you're putting out fires.
936
00:48:18,061 --> 00:48:23,525
The draw, the appeal was to be part of
creating something that was special.
937
00:48:23,609 --> 00:48:29,114
And that desire overcame my inner
wisdom, which was like, "This is a mess."
938
00:48:29,823 --> 00:48:32,701
The atmosphere that was
cultivated there was that...
939
00:48:33,076 --> 00:48:35,662
nobody, no matter what,
940
00:48:35,746 --> 00:48:38,290
was able to cross them
and tell them, "No."
941
00:48:38,916 --> 00:48:41,627
Had we not pulled off
these kind of crazy things
942
00:48:41,710 --> 00:48:45,505
like Andy finding this
caterer with no time left,
943
00:48:45,797 --> 00:48:47,341
then there would've
been no festival.
944
00:48:47,841 --> 00:48:50,260
It's possible that
by solving problems,
945
00:48:50,344 --> 00:48:55,015
we were just enabling them to
continue to create this monster.
946
00:49:00,437 --> 00:49:03,148
Did Andy ever tell you how
he had to get the water out?
947
00:49:03,690 --> 00:49:04,690
Oh, yeah.
948
00:49:05,609 --> 00:49:07,778
Did Andy tell you how they
had to get the water out?
949
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:09,320
Yeah.
950
00:49:09,821 --> 00:49:12,783
It was, like, fucking crazy.
951
00:49:13,492 --> 00:49:15,702
I'm not going to
talk about that.
952
00:49:15,786 --> 00:49:17,621
Let me tell you something.
We had...
953
00:49:17,704 --> 00:49:19,998
four containers filled...
954
00:49:20,082 --> 00:49:24,002
Four 18-wheeler trucks
filled with Evian water,
955
00:49:24,086 --> 00:49:26,213
but I had left the week
before for two days
956
00:49:26,296 --> 00:49:28,423
to go to meetings in Bermuda
for the America's Cup.
957
00:49:28,507 --> 00:49:32,177
And when I came back, I'd missed
the big meeting with Customs,
958
00:49:32,260 --> 00:49:34,596
and of course Customs had
said to Billy and the gang,
959
00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:38,725
"You need to pay
us $175,000 in cash today
960
00:49:38,809 --> 00:49:40,477
for us to release the water."
961
00:49:41,728 --> 00:49:42,729
I went down.
962
00:49:42,980 --> 00:49:44,106
Well, Billy called me.
963
00:49:44,272 --> 00:49:46,483
I'm gonna speak
completely, you know...
964
00:49:46,817 --> 00:49:49,069
This won't go that
far, I'm sure, but...
965
00:49:49,277 --> 00:49:52,614
Billy called and said, "Andy, we need
you to take one big thing for the team."
966
00:49:52,739 --> 00:49:53,740
And I said...
967
00:49:54,449 --> 00:49:56,868
"My gosh, I've been taking
something for the team every day."
968
00:49:56,952 --> 00:50:00,872
He said, "Well, you're
our wonderful gay leader",
969
00:50:01,081 --> 00:50:03,709
and we need you to go down.
Will you...
970
00:50:04,251 --> 00:50:05,251
suck...
971
00:50:05,544 --> 00:50:06,544
dick...
972
00:50:07,170 --> 00:50:08,922
"to fix this water problem?"
973
00:50:09,006 --> 00:50:11,925
And I said, "Billy,
what?" And he said, "Andy,
974
00:50:12,009 --> 00:50:14,553
if you will go down and
suck Cunningham's dick,
975
00:50:14,636 --> 00:50:16,388
who's the head of Customs,
976
00:50:16,722 --> 00:50:20,517
and get him to clear all of
the containers with water,
977
00:50:20,809 --> 00:50:22,269
"you will save this festival."
978
00:50:22,352 --> 00:50:26,231
And I literally drove
home, took a shower,
979
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:28,775
I drank some mouthwash.
980
00:50:28,859 --> 00:50:31,778
I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm
really..." And I got into my car
981
00:50:31,903 --> 00:50:34,948
to drive across the island
to take one for the team...
982
00:50:35,323 --> 00:50:39,202
and I got to his office, fully
prepared to suck his dick.
983
00:50:39,953 --> 00:50:42,122
He couldn't have been nicer.
He's like, "Andy, listen",
984
00:50:42,622 --> 00:50:45,459
I will release all the water,
I will let you serve it,
985
00:50:45,625 --> 00:50:48,378
but I want to be want to be one
of the first people to be paid
986
00:50:48,462 --> 00:50:52,549
this import fee for what you're
doing," and I said, "Okay, great."
987
00:50:52,632 --> 00:50:55,969
And I got back and I had all
the water that we needed.
988
00:50:58,013 --> 00:51:01,099
Can you imagine, in my
30 years of a career,
989
00:51:01,516 --> 00:51:03,351
that this is what
I was going to do?
990
00:51:03,435 --> 00:51:06,688
I was going to do that,
honestly, to save the festival.
991
00:51:08,398 --> 00:51:11,276
Major news in the vlog today.
Tomorrow morning, 5:30,
992
00:51:11,359 --> 00:51:14,571
half of the Jerry Media crew is
going to Fyre Festival in Bahamas
993
00:51:14,738 --> 00:51:16,031
on a remote island.
994
00:51:16,114 --> 00:51:18,176
We've been doing their marketing
for the last couple of months,
995
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:19,720
so excited to see
this thing take off.
996
00:51:19,785 --> 00:51:21,203
I think it's going to be f...
epic.
997
00:51:22,621 --> 00:51:24,956
We went down with about
four of the teammates
998
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:27,000
the day before the festival.
999
00:51:27,292 --> 00:51:30,295
Mick, the good news about this plane?
If we want to leave, just...
1000
00:51:30,670 --> 00:51:32,798
take the window off
and just head out.
1001
00:51:32,881 --> 00:51:34,925
This is great. This
is a great flight.
1002
00:51:35,008 --> 00:51:38,386
I remember the feeling, getting
off the plane, we were so excited.
1003
00:51:38,470 --> 00:51:40,180
"Finally here,
this is happening."
1004
00:51:41,765 --> 00:51:43,892
There's literally no
cars on the island.
1005
00:51:43,975 --> 00:51:47,270
We couldn't rent one. They
didn't hook us up with one, so...
1006
00:51:47,521 --> 00:51:50,732
this is us. We're hitch-hiking
for the next couple of days.
1007
00:51:50,941 --> 00:51:52,526
I was down there yesterday
1008
00:51:52,818 --> 00:51:56,279
and I said, "Man, this ain't
gonna be finished for no Friday."
1009
00:51:56,613 --> 00:51:58,907
So much work, so much things!
1010
00:51:59,658 --> 00:52:00,992
And so little time.
1011
00:52:01,493 --> 00:52:03,620
So, none of this was here.
All this sand is new.
1012
00:52:03,703 --> 00:52:05,872
- This was all put down...
- Yeah, I can tell.
1013
00:52:05,956 --> 00:52:07,457
A few days ago. Can you?
1014
00:52:09,501 --> 00:52:12,546
It's all peaking on this last
day because it's going to happen.
1015
00:52:12,629 --> 00:52:14,923
We all know now that
this is an inevitability,
1016
00:52:15,006 --> 00:52:17,551
that this event is going
to happen, no matter what.
1017
00:52:18,009 --> 00:52:19,386
I'm working with this Navy SEAL
1018
00:52:19,469 --> 00:52:21,471
who's telling me this
is like a clusterfuck.
1019
00:52:21,596 --> 00:52:24,224
That's what he called it. "An
elephant of a clusterfuck."
1020
00:52:24,307 --> 00:52:26,852
He's laughing and
not even laughing,
1021
00:52:26,935 --> 00:52:31,148
just disturbed at how
fucked up this is and...
1022
00:52:31,731 --> 00:52:34,359
and he's a Navy
SEAL, like, come on!
1023
00:52:34,442 --> 00:52:37,237
The last 24 hours
were unbelievable.
1024
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:39,990
All I kept thinking
about was Woodstock.
1025
00:52:40,407 --> 00:52:42,200
Think of that music festival.
1026
00:52:42,284 --> 00:52:45,412
Does anybody talk about the
hundreds and hundreds of cars
1027
00:52:45,495 --> 00:52:47,706
that were stuck on
the thruway for days?
1028
00:52:47,956 --> 00:52:50,041
Does anybody talk
about the mudslides?
1029
00:52:50,625 --> 00:52:54,713
How many people died of drug overdoses?
Does anybody talk about the lack of food?
1030
00:52:54,796 --> 00:52:55,797
Almost no water.
1031
00:52:55,881 --> 00:52:58,383
Absolutely not. And I
thought, "You know what?"
1032
00:52:58,466 --> 00:53:02,888
If Woodstock could get through that
and, from a publicity perspective,
1033
00:53:03,388 --> 00:53:04,848
land where it did,
1034
00:53:05,265 --> 00:53:06,641
"FyreFestival can make it."
1035
00:53:07,642 --> 00:53:09,811
Well, actually we
didn't sleep that night.
1036
00:53:09,895 --> 00:53:13,064
'Cause I remember exactly
what happened, so...
1037
00:53:13,148 --> 00:53:16,735
we're standing outside on
the porch of this mansion,
1038
00:53:16,860 --> 00:53:19,779
looking out at the ocean and
it's a full moon or something
1039
00:53:20,238 --> 00:53:21,364
and it starts...
1040
00:53:21,448 --> 00:53:23,158
pouring rain.
1041
00:53:24,451 --> 00:53:25,535
Pouring rain.
1042
00:53:26,411 --> 00:53:27,537
Thunder and lightning.
1043
00:53:28,705 --> 00:53:30,290
And we just start laughing.
1044
00:53:31,166 --> 00:53:33,210
Like, belly laughs...
1045
00:53:34,753 --> 00:53:37,005
and look at each other and...
1046
00:53:37,589 --> 00:53:39,174
To this point, I'm so delirious
1047
00:53:39,257 --> 00:53:42,886
that I still am not sure that
this is 100% entirely true,
1048
00:53:42,969 --> 00:53:45,096
but I remember one
of our group saying,
1049
00:53:45,180 --> 00:53:47,307
"At least they won't
get away with it now."
1050
00:53:47,766 --> 00:53:50,477
I honestly remember that and
I don't know that that's...
1051
00:53:50,727 --> 00:53:52,103
But that's what I remember.
1052
00:53:53,146 --> 00:53:55,565
So you have to realize
the site's unfinished.
1053
00:53:55,815 --> 00:53:59,361
There's mattresses all over
the place getting soaked.
1054
00:53:59,903 --> 00:54:02,781
Any tent that was
done is now unlivable.
1055
00:54:03,156 --> 00:54:04,783
And the guests are still coming.
1056
00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:06,826
And we have nowhere to put them.
1057
00:54:07,035 --> 00:54:09,287
The rainstorm that
morning killed us.
1058
00:54:09,829 --> 00:54:13,083
Because I know the work we
had done that morning and...
1059
00:54:14,084 --> 00:54:15,252
I could have cried.
1060
00:54:16,336 --> 00:54:17,587
I think I did.
1061
00:54:18,421 --> 00:54:21,424
The other funny thing that happened
was we were laughing and we were like,
1062
00:54:21,508 --> 00:54:23,718
"Well at least nothing is
on time in the Bahamas.
1063
00:54:23,802 --> 00:54:25,679
At least this rain...
The guests will be late."
1064
00:54:25,762 --> 00:54:29,140
They were supposed to come at 6:50,
the first flight got there at 6:20.
1065
00:54:29,224 --> 00:54:30,433
It was like a sick joke.
1066
00:54:31,893 --> 00:54:32,894
So...
1067
00:54:33,645 --> 00:54:36,314
So...
1068
00:54:39,901 --> 00:54:41,486
Fyre Festival, baby. Here we go.
1069
00:54:42,988 --> 00:54:44,781
About to go to...
1070
00:54:45,573 --> 00:54:46,573
Miami.
1071
00:54:46,616 --> 00:54:49,828
Miami for, like, four hours.
And then where are we going?
1072
00:54:50,120 --> 00:54:52,163
- Bahamas.
- Bahamas.
1073
00:54:52,247 --> 00:54:53,540
Check out my ice, baby.
1074
00:54:54,124 --> 00:54:56,835
Bahamas. We're
coming for you, baby.
1075
00:54:57,502 --> 00:55:00,714
We are here in the...
"private jet."
1076
00:55:01,089 --> 00:55:03,359
We thought we were going to get
on one of those propeller planes,
1077
00:55:03,383 --> 00:55:04,743
like a tiny little
propeller plane
1078
00:55:05,176 --> 00:55:07,095
that was in all of
the video footage.
1079
00:55:07,178 --> 00:55:11,433
I didn't realize what plane we were
going to be on until we were boarded.
1080
00:55:11,516 --> 00:55:13,101
And, I mean, it was like a 737.
1081
00:55:13,184 --> 00:55:17,439
My understanding, it was supposed
to be this "branded jet experience,"
1082
00:55:17,522 --> 00:55:19,024
which I think was a...
1083
00:55:19,232 --> 00:55:21,860
I don't know where they got it from.
It was just...
1084
00:55:22,193 --> 00:55:25,322
"Oh, let's slap a logo on it and
call it a day" type of thing.
1085
00:55:25,822 --> 00:55:28,408
It's actually worse
than, like, really...
1086
00:55:28,491 --> 00:55:31,661
Like being low economy class.
1087
00:55:31,745 --> 00:55:34,080
It was about 4:30 when
we're getting on the plane,
1088
00:55:34,164 --> 00:55:36,624
and that's when my friend
looked at his phone and said,
1089
00:55:36,708 --> 00:55:38,752
"Blink-182 just pulled out.
1090
00:55:38,835 --> 00:55:41,129
Do you still want to
get on the plane?"
1091
00:55:41,212 --> 00:55:43,298
And their reasoning
wasn't anything like,
1092
00:55:43,590 --> 00:55:45,258
"Don't go, it's a disaster."
1093
00:55:45,342 --> 00:55:47,719
It was just like, "We don't
think we can put on the show"
1094
00:55:47,802 --> 00:55:49,512
that our fans would deserve."
1095
00:55:49,596 --> 00:55:52,640
I've never been to a Blink-182 concert
so I don't even know what that means.
1096
00:55:52,724 --> 00:55:55,268
So we were like,
"It will be fine."
1097
00:56:00,148 --> 00:56:03,651
We all got off and landed
on this beautiful island.
1098
00:56:03,735 --> 00:56:05,236
Still, nothing seemed amiss.
1099
00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:07,280
I do remember being
presented a choice.
1100
00:56:07,364 --> 00:56:10,867
"Do you want to go to the campsite or
do you want to go to this restaurant,
1101
00:56:10,950 --> 00:56:12,030
this beachside restaurant?"
1102
00:56:12,077 --> 00:56:14,996
An executive decision was
made, I don't know by who,
1103
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:17,665
but it was to essentially
close down the campsite
1104
00:56:17,749 --> 00:56:20,752
and to reroute all
of the new attendees
1105
00:56:20,835 --> 00:56:21,961
to a separate bar.
1106
00:56:22,420 --> 00:56:26,966
It was never planned. I knew
of it, like, maybe 25 minutes
1107
00:56:27,050 --> 00:56:29,094
to them coming down
to the restaurant.
1108
00:56:29,469 --> 00:56:32,889
Tons of buses, bussing in
hundreds of their guests.
1109
00:56:32,972 --> 00:56:35,683
And they were asking, "Is
this the Fyre Festival?"
1110
00:56:35,934 --> 00:56:38,520
They all thought that they
were at the first step
1111
00:56:38,603 --> 00:56:40,980
of what was going to be a
very exciting experience.
1112
00:56:41,272 --> 00:56:44,109
It's on this, like,
beautiful beach.
1113
00:56:44,192 --> 00:56:45,735
A dock goes all the way out,
1114
00:56:45,819 --> 00:56:47,987
people are just dangling
their legs, having tequila.
1115
00:56:48,071 --> 00:56:51,491
I'm looking around and I'm like, "This
is the greatest decoy of all time."
1116
00:56:51,574 --> 00:56:54,327
The music playing, and the
guests was just cheering on.
1117
00:56:54,411 --> 00:56:56,621
They were dancing and
having a good time.
1118
00:56:56,871 --> 00:57:00,125
There was a lot of smiles and a lot
of happiness over at this other bar.
1119
00:57:00,208 --> 00:57:03,503
Quite frankly, it was probably the
best part of the entire experience.
1120
00:57:03,586 --> 00:57:06,297
What was happening on the
campgrounds was the exact opposite.
1121
00:57:06,673 --> 00:57:09,467
Oh, my God.
1122
00:57:10,343 --> 00:57:12,262
They're soaking wet!
1123
00:57:12,637 --> 00:57:16,141
The tents are soaked, mud
is sliding on the carpets.
1124
00:57:16,224 --> 00:57:20,270
What was already this kind of very
loosely put together festival,
1125
00:57:20,353 --> 00:57:22,605
which was over-advertised,
1126
00:57:22,689 --> 00:57:25,817
has now devolved into
something much worse.
1127
00:57:25,900 --> 00:57:28,486
We didn't have enough drivers,
we didn't have enough houses,
1128
00:57:28,570 --> 00:57:31,114
we didn't have enough beds,
we didn't have enough site,
1129
00:57:31,197 --> 00:57:32,407
we didn't have enough staff.
1130
00:57:32,490 --> 00:57:35,034
It was just... We
were overwhelmed.
1131
00:57:35,118 --> 00:57:37,179
So I'm getting phone calls.
I'm trying to charge my phone,
1132
00:57:37,203 --> 00:57:40,165
and the calls are to get me
to the blue production house.
1133
00:57:40,248 --> 00:57:43,918
So I get there and it's mayhem.
People are scrambling everywhere.
1134
00:57:44,002 --> 00:57:45,722
They're still outside
trying to build stuff.
1135
00:57:45,795 --> 00:57:47,714
Grant was like, "You
got the paper bags?"
1136
00:57:47,797 --> 00:57:50,592
Because he's like
hyperventilating in the bedroom.
1137
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:53,011
People are crying and
it's all these emotions.
1138
00:57:53,094 --> 00:57:54,929
I was like, "Okay,
get your shit done."
1139
00:57:55,013 --> 00:57:56,806
I'm literally getting
now physically pulled
1140
00:57:56,890 --> 00:57:58,570
in different directions
by the assistants.
1141
00:57:58,641 --> 00:58:00,685
"Marc, this person arrived,
that person arrived.
1142
00:58:00,768 --> 00:58:02,103
We need to find them houses."
1143
00:58:02,187 --> 00:58:03,771
I thought something was wrong
1144
00:58:03,855 --> 00:58:06,941
after they held us on
the beach for six hours.
1145
00:58:07,025 --> 00:58:08,860
Kinda funneling tequila
down our throats.
1146
00:58:12,155 --> 00:58:13,406
They started asking,
1147
00:58:13,490 --> 00:58:15,992
"Where can I go?
Where do we go?"
1148
00:58:16,075 --> 00:58:18,578
"How are we getting to the campsite?
Where is the campsite?
1149
00:58:18,661 --> 00:58:19,662
Where's my luggage?"
1150
00:58:19,746 --> 00:58:20,746
And I was like,
1151
00:58:21,539 --> 00:58:23,124
"What do I tell them?"
1152
00:58:23,208 --> 00:58:26,044
You know, Billy would be in the
room and he'd be kind of the CEO,
1153
00:58:26,961 --> 00:58:27,879
calling the shots.
1154
00:58:27,962 --> 00:58:31,007
Every now and then, he would walk
out, go get on his four-wheeler,
1155
00:58:31,341 --> 00:58:33,801
and just ride really fast
in, like, one direction.
1156
00:58:33,885 --> 00:58:35,220
Just take off.
1157
00:58:35,303 --> 00:58:38,806
And then he would come right back
and walk back in without, you know,
1158
00:58:38,890 --> 00:58:42,560
a lot to talk about, but you could see
he just had like bottled up energy.
1159
00:58:42,810 --> 00:58:44,646
It's time to let people in
1160
00:58:44,729 --> 00:58:46,606
and kind of see how it unfolds.
1161
00:58:53,488 --> 00:58:56,658
There was no one from
Fyre Festival on the bus.
1162
00:58:56,741 --> 00:58:59,619
The bus driver just knew where
to go, and he's telling us,
1163
00:58:59,702 --> 00:59:03,998
"Oh, yeah, they didn't start construction
on any of this until maybe a month ago."
1164
00:59:04,082 --> 00:59:08,169
Or, "Oh, yeah, you're
really in for something."
1165
00:59:08,253 --> 00:59:11,798
Just wait until you see what
you're getting yourselves into."
1166
00:59:11,881 --> 00:59:15,593
Which is a very concerning thing
to hear when you're on a bus
1167
00:59:15,677 --> 00:59:18,137
to you have no idea where
1168
00:59:18,221 --> 00:59:20,723
after taking a plane to
God knows what island
1169
00:59:20,807 --> 00:59:22,559
with who knows what people.
1170
00:59:22,642 --> 00:59:23,642
No!
1171
00:59:26,312 --> 00:59:27,730
Turn around!
1172
00:59:27,814 --> 00:59:30,900
Turn this bus right around!
1173
00:59:31,234 --> 00:59:36,322
We see this sea of
white little tents.
1174
00:59:38,241 --> 00:59:40,118
There was a
disbelief on the bus.
1175
00:59:40,201 --> 00:59:43,496
A lot of people thought, "Maybe
we're passing through this area.
1176
00:59:43,580 --> 00:59:45,331
Our villas are just
on the other side."
1177
00:59:45,415 --> 00:59:49,961
And it was the bus driver who said,
"Oh, no. That's where you're staying."
1178
00:59:50,044 --> 00:59:52,880
It was like, "Oh, my God!"
1179
00:59:52,964 --> 00:59:56,426
- Look at the beds!
- Oh, Jesus!
1180
00:59:56,509 --> 00:59:59,387
This festival is never happening
again, I hope they know that.
1181
00:59:59,470 --> 01:00:01,556
They kinda drive us
around the little lagoon
1182
01:00:01,639 --> 01:00:04,851
and we get to that blue house that
I guess was their headquarters,
1183
01:00:04,934 --> 01:00:07,145
and there was just a line
of hundreds of people.
1184
01:00:07,228 --> 01:00:09,897
We have literally been standing
here for, like, an hour.
1185
01:00:09,981 --> 01:00:12,108
We didn't know what we
were standing in line for,
1186
01:00:12,191 --> 01:00:13,401
but we kept standing there,
1187
01:00:13,484 --> 01:00:16,279
and some people just
had bottles of liquor.
1188
01:00:17,739 --> 01:00:21,117
Billy came up to me and told
me to just blast the music.
1189
01:00:22,410 --> 01:00:24,579
As loud as I possibly could.
1190
01:00:24,662 --> 01:00:29,000
That's one of the most annoying parts.
You could just hear this pulsating noise.
1191
01:00:29,083 --> 01:00:31,753
And, you know, every five
minutes it would be...
1192
01:00:31,836 --> 01:00:34,631
Like, one of the hostesses or
one of the staff that would come,
1193
01:00:34,714 --> 01:00:38,426
"Please, we cannot hear anything as
we're trying to check in these people."
1194
01:00:38,509 --> 01:00:40,136
And so we would lower the music.
1195
01:00:40,219 --> 01:00:42,597
After five minutes,
Billy would come back.
1196
01:00:42,680 --> 01:00:44,891
"Raise the music."
1197
01:00:45,433 --> 01:00:48,186
Everyone was, like,
arguing, you know?
1198
01:00:48,269 --> 01:00:51,105
Everyone was making noise or
like, "Where I'm gonna stay?
1199
01:00:51,189 --> 01:00:53,316
What am I gonna do?
What am I gonna eat?"
1200
01:00:53,733 --> 01:00:58,071
The attendees were looking towards
anything, anyone for direction.
1201
01:00:59,405 --> 01:01:00,865
Guys, stay here.
1202
01:01:01,783 --> 01:01:04,035
Billy McFarland
stood up on a table.
1203
01:01:04,118 --> 01:01:07,830
So I just kind of walked up and I said,
"Where do you go if you have a villa?"
1204
01:01:07,914 --> 01:01:10,792
And he said, "Everybody that has
a villa, just go grab a tent."
1205
01:01:10,875 --> 01:01:12,585
And so this whole
mass of people...
1206
01:01:12,710 --> 01:01:14,420
I was like, "It's
a free-for-all."
1207
01:01:14,962 --> 01:01:18,341
Everybody started sprinting, running
to their tents, grabbing bags.
1208
01:01:18,424 --> 01:01:19,342
We heard this voice,
1209
01:01:19,425 --> 01:01:21,386
we heard this rush, then
we heard the screaming.
1210
01:01:21,469 --> 01:01:25,390
We walked out and there was just
this mass of people going to tents.
1211
01:01:25,473 --> 01:01:27,934
It's an absolute circus.
I don't know what's going on.
1212
01:01:28,017 --> 01:01:30,577
I'm not getting off this ship
until I know what's going on there.
1213
01:01:30,645 --> 01:01:35,191
It's 8:36 and people are now
just getting their luggage.
1214
01:01:35,358 --> 01:01:37,568
These are the lockers that
are just being set up.
1215
01:01:37,652 --> 01:01:41,489
They're taking off the plastic that
are supposed to hold our valuables.
1216
01:01:41,864 --> 01:01:44,992
There was no one who
planned out luggage tags.
1217
01:01:45,076 --> 01:01:47,412
They brought out the luggage
in two big containers.
1218
01:01:47,495 --> 01:01:50,373
Like truck containers.
Eighteen-wheeler containers.
1219
01:01:50,456 --> 01:01:53,835
They just said, "Everyone, grab
your bag." And it was just a frenzy.
1220
01:01:54,252 --> 01:01:56,254
Everyone was just
looking for, you know,
1221
01:01:56,337 --> 01:01:58,715
their black bag amongst
a sea of black bags.
1222
01:01:58,798 --> 01:02:00,341
And if they had
to climb over you
1223
01:02:00,425 --> 01:02:03,177
and stomp over you to get their
piece of luggage, so be it.
1224
01:02:03,553 --> 01:02:07,306
This is an absolute disaster.
1225
01:02:07,932 --> 01:02:09,809
Where do you... Yo!
1226
01:02:14,063 --> 01:02:16,691
We do not want to be on the
perimeter, I promise you.
1227
01:02:17,108 --> 01:02:18,359
We didn't want neighbors.
1228
01:02:18,443 --> 01:02:20,737
Our strategy from there
was to kind of ransack
1229
01:02:20,820 --> 01:02:22,238
all the tents around us.
1230
01:02:22,321 --> 01:02:24,615
Just started poking holes
and flipping mattresses.
1231
01:02:24,699 --> 01:02:26,659
My buddy pissed on
a few of the beds.
1232
01:02:27,452 --> 01:02:28,494
Shit got crazy.
1233
01:02:28,578 --> 01:02:31,497
People was just walking with
mattresses on top of their head.
1234
01:02:31,914 --> 01:02:34,250
Walking from this one
around to that one.
1235
01:02:34,333 --> 01:02:36,502
It became this
looting mentality.
1236
01:02:36,586 --> 01:02:40,298
One woman had a whole
pallet of toilet paper.
1237
01:02:40,381 --> 01:02:44,010
Somebody else had this
whole giant box of pillows
1238
01:02:44,093 --> 01:02:46,512
that she was lugging
back to her tent.
1239
01:02:46,596 --> 01:02:49,682
It became very
barbaric, in a sense.
1240
01:03:04,155 --> 01:03:09,202
Driving around, it was the most
eerie feeling in the world.
1241
01:03:09,285 --> 01:03:10,578
There was no lights.
1242
01:03:11,287 --> 01:03:13,164
It looked like a horror scene.
1243
01:03:13,247 --> 01:03:16,375
People were scattered throughout
that area and spent one night.
1244
01:03:16,459 --> 01:03:18,669
My guess is most of them
never went to sleep.
1245
01:03:19,670 --> 01:03:21,464
Some woman came in
1246
01:03:21,547 --> 01:03:24,884
in a panic at one point
in the dead of night.
1247
01:03:24,967 --> 01:03:26,803
She couldn't find her friend.
1248
01:03:26,886 --> 01:03:30,181
She was lost, she seemed
like she was drunk. I mean...
1249
01:03:31,849 --> 01:03:34,185
But there's nothing you can
do to help a person like that.
1250
01:03:34,268 --> 01:03:36,354
You know, I don't know
where I am either.
1251
01:03:36,938 --> 01:03:40,233
And there was a definite
turning point, I would say,
1252
01:03:40,316 --> 01:03:41,776
when the sun went down,
1253
01:03:42,151 --> 01:03:43,903
when the camaraderie was over.
1254
01:03:44,862 --> 01:03:46,823
All I know is that, by
the end of the night,
1255
01:03:46,906 --> 01:03:48,324
all of the tents were full.
1256
01:03:48,407 --> 01:03:51,160
And this is with one-third of the
guests we were supposed to have.
1257
01:03:52,078 --> 01:03:53,788
I remember just
leaving this place
1258
01:03:53,871 --> 01:03:56,415
and looking at this
image of the campground
1259
01:03:56,582 --> 01:04:00,795
for the first time feeling
what an epic failure really is.
1260
01:04:06,843 --> 01:04:09,178
So, as I was tweeting
about the event,
1261
01:04:09,262 --> 01:04:11,389
just to be like, "This
is what's going on."
1262
01:04:11,472 --> 01:04:14,517
I mean, "Here's the lockers,
here's the concierge stand."
1263
01:04:14,600 --> 01:04:16,477
This is what Fyre Festival is."
1264
01:04:17,311 --> 01:04:19,772
The tweets just
started going viral.
1265
01:04:21,649 --> 01:04:25,194
It was just kind of the perfect
thing to consume in real-time.
1266
01:04:27,905 --> 01:04:30,741
Then I saw the Twitter post.
1267
01:04:31,617 --> 01:04:32,827
The cheese sandwich.
1268
01:04:34,996 --> 01:04:37,623
That was when I
knew this was done.
1269
01:04:40,126 --> 01:04:42,295
I remember The New York Times
came out with an article
1270
01:04:42,378 --> 01:04:44,098
that talked about this
entire Fyre Festival.
1271
01:04:44,171 --> 01:04:45,798
They talked about it
very matter-of-fact,
1272
01:04:45,882 --> 01:04:47,174
from an operational perspective.
1273
01:04:47,675 --> 01:04:50,803
What they didn't talk about, which I
think was something that was missed,
1274
01:04:50,887 --> 01:04:54,557
was a couple of powerful
models posting an orange tile
1275
01:04:54,640 --> 01:04:57,727
is what essentially built
this entire festival,
1276
01:04:58,060 --> 01:05:01,022
and then one kid with
probably 400 followers
1277
01:05:01,105 --> 01:05:03,441
posted a picture
of cheese on toast
1278
01:05:03,524 --> 01:05:06,235
that trended and essentially
ripped down the festival.
1279
01:05:06,527 --> 01:05:10,031
All I know is that people were
stoked to watch this thing go down.
1280
01:05:17,079 --> 01:05:19,040
There definitely
was kind of like
1281
01:05:19,123 --> 01:05:21,751
almost a gleeful
response on social media
1282
01:05:21,834 --> 01:05:23,085
from people that weren't there.
1283
01:05:23,169 --> 01:05:25,588
The way that it seemed like it
happened is funny, you know?
1284
01:05:25,671 --> 01:05:30,134
A Lord of the Flies situation with,
you know, Instagram's top influencers.
1285
01:05:31,636 --> 01:05:35,264
Grant was still calling orders
and asking us to do things.
1286
01:05:35,765 --> 01:05:38,768
I said, "No, Grant, we're not
posting any more promises."
1287
01:05:38,851 --> 01:05:41,479
We're not trying to propel
this vision any further."
1288
01:05:41,562 --> 01:05:43,856
You know, "This thing is dead."
1289
01:05:44,315 --> 01:05:47,693
Then I think, like, three minutes
later, I get a text from Grant
1290
01:05:47,777 --> 01:05:51,113
introducing me to their
new social media team.
1291
01:05:51,197 --> 01:05:53,407
"Can you please send him
over the credentials?"
1292
01:05:55,159 --> 01:05:57,870
I just remember calling Ja
- he wasn't even there yet -
1293
01:05:57,954 --> 01:06:01,082
and saying, like, "There's,
like, no way this is happening.
1294
01:06:01,165 --> 01:06:04,460
I'm sending out the email.
I really don't care at this point."
1295
01:06:04,543 --> 01:06:07,088
And then I told Billy
I cancelled the acts
1296
01:06:07,171 --> 01:06:10,675
and at that point, he knew
everything had fallen apart already.
1297
01:06:11,676 --> 01:06:15,221
And he was pacing back and
forth out on the terrace.
1298
01:06:15,304 --> 01:06:17,640
I could see that there
were tears in his eyes,
1299
01:06:17,723 --> 01:06:20,935
but that was the first time
that any of us had seen that.
1300
01:06:21,018 --> 01:06:22,436
Through thick and thin,
1301
01:06:22,520 --> 01:06:25,564
he stayed so positive and
it wasn't until that day...
1302
01:06:26,357 --> 01:06:30,444
that things started to crumble,
that he really started to get it.
1303
01:06:31,529 --> 01:06:34,073
I mean, he went from,
two days before,
1304
01:06:34,156 --> 01:06:36,575
thinking he was the
entrepreneur of our decade
1305
01:06:37,118 --> 01:06:41,288
to essentially being a massive
viral disgrace and joke.
1306
01:06:41,580 --> 01:06:44,542
I go into the production house,
and, like, Grant's crying
1307
01:06:44,625 --> 01:06:48,671
and Carola just looks like
she's been like hit by a truck.
1308
01:06:49,213 --> 01:06:53,384
Grant stayed and he was talking about
drafting up their official response
1309
01:06:53,467 --> 01:06:57,471
to what had happened, and it was like,
"Due to circumstances out of our control,"
1310
01:06:57,555 --> 01:07:01,809
and I remember Jorge looks at him
and he's like, "Do not lie again."
1311
01:07:02,018 --> 01:07:04,437
This is your chance
to tell the truth.
1312
01:07:05,354 --> 01:07:08,774
"Don't say 'out of our control.'
This was perfectly in our control."
1313
01:07:09,233 --> 01:07:10,234
Major update.
1314
01:07:11,736 --> 01:07:14,572
Fyre Festival is
officially cancelled.
1315
01:07:16,657 --> 01:07:18,951
- Just got the news, guys.
- Officially?
1316
01:07:19,035 --> 01:07:20,911
- Is it really?
- It's what Mick said.
1317
01:07:21,245 --> 01:07:24,206
Apparently, there's no food on the island.
They're not letting people in.
1318
01:07:24,290 --> 01:07:26,917
People who just landed here
have to go back to Miami.
1319
01:07:27,376 --> 01:07:29,837
They were just trying to
get out at that point.
1320
01:07:30,004 --> 01:07:33,257
Part of the problem was that there
weren't planes to take them out
1321
01:07:33,340 --> 01:07:36,886
and the airport was totally
overwhelmed with all these people
1322
01:07:36,969 --> 01:07:39,013
and they eventually
locked them in
1323
01:07:39,096 --> 01:07:42,349
and kept them overnight
without any food or water. ♪
1324
01:07:42,433 --> 01:07:44,643
Okay. How long
until water comes?
1325
01:07:45,686 --> 01:07:46,687
And food.
1326
01:07:47,104 --> 01:07:48,731
When do we get our money back?
1327
01:07:49,356 --> 01:07:51,525
It was just this sort
of real-time saga
1328
01:07:51,609 --> 01:07:54,153
that started at six
o'clock in the afternoon.
1329
01:07:55,112 --> 01:07:57,907
And in the morning, the
media started picking it up.
1330
01:07:58,407 --> 01:08:01,619
This morning, the organizers
of the failed Fyre Festival
1331
01:08:01,702 --> 01:08:02,787
are feeling the heat.
1332
01:08:02,870 --> 01:08:05,498
We took a big jump
here, a big risk,
1333
01:08:05,581 --> 01:08:07,374
and V1 has failed.
1334
01:08:07,458 --> 01:08:10,169
People were making fun
of it, making fun of us.
1335
01:08:10,252 --> 01:08:13,672
Do you feel bad for the people that
did spend money and go to this...
1336
01:08:15,216 --> 01:08:20,846
If you had thousands of dollars to
go on a trip to see Blink-182...
1337
01:08:22,515 --> 01:08:25,559
that's on you. That is
Darwinism at its finest.
1338
01:08:29,146 --> 01:08:32,149
At that point, all of their
promises started to collapse,
1339
01:08:32,233 --> 01:08:35,986
so the car rental companies
came and took the keys,
1340
01:08:36,070 --> 01:08:40,991
the house owners came and demanded
that their properties were returned.
1341
01:08:41,075 --> 01:08:44,161
One of my head construction guys
came to me and said, "Andy",
1342
01:08:44,245 --> 01:08:46,372
I need $26,000 in cash,
1343
01:08:46,455 --> 01:08:47,998
"and I want it right now."
1344
01:08:48,082 --> 01:08:50,960
He was a big guy
and he followed me.
1345
01:08:51,252 --> 01:08:53,838
And then I went back to the
tent and he followed me.
1346
01:08:53,921 --> 01:08:56,590
I had the head of the
Bahamian Tourism Board,
1347
01:08:56,674 --> 01:08:58,634
the Minister of Finance
1348
01:08:58,717 --> 01:09:02,138
and the head of the
University of the Bahamas
1349
01:09:02,221 --> 01:09:05,558
waiting for $1 million that
they wanted to be paid.
1350
01:09:06,475 --> 01:09:10,146
There was a huge workforce of people
that had been working under the sun
1351
01:09:10,229 --> 01:09:14,191
for, you know, a month,
a month-and-a-half without being paid...
1352
01:09:14,275 --> 01:09:16,694
that as soon as
realized that, you know,
1353
01:09:16,777 --> 01:09:19,113
all of this was collapsing,
1354
01:09:19,196 --> 01:09:22,491
started, rightfully so,
demanding their payment,
1355
01:09:22,575 --> 01:09:25,703
so there was a sort of a strike.
1356
01:09:26,328 --> 01:09:29,790
And we get word that there's
an angry mob of locals
1357
01:09:29,874 --> 01:09:31,584
coming down through the gates.
1358
01:09:31,917 --> 01:09:34,128
They're pissed off and
they want their money.
1359
01:09:35,713 --> 01:09:38,382
And it's now, like, five of
us in the production house
1360
01:09:38,465 --> 01:09:39,508
There was about,
1361
01:09:39,592 --> 01:09:42,469
I don't know, I want to
say 30 people coming down.
1362
01:09:43,929 --> 01:09:45,764
And Billy is nowhere to be seen.
1363
01:09:46,307 --> 01:09:49,101
There were constant rumors
flying around of where Billy was.
1364
01:09:49,185 --> 01:09:51,896
He was like Dr. Evil. It was
like, "Billy's on a yacht."
1365
01:09:51,979 --> 01:09:53,981
"Billy's been at the Grand
Isle the whole time."
1366
01:09:54,064 --> 01:09:55,691
"Billy's in Miami."
"Billy's in jail."
1367
01:09:55,774 --> 01:09:58,110
Like, everyone was kind of
like guessing where Billy was.
1368
01:09:58,444 --> 01:10:00,487
I didn't even know
where Billy went.
1369
01:10:00,571 --> 01:10:04,116
I went to the house and it was,
like, literally cleaned out,
1370
01:10:04,200 --> 01:10:06,952
and I was like,
"Yo, where's Billy?"
1371
01:10:07,411 --> 01:10:10,664
After the locals realized they
weren't going to get paid,
1372
01:10:10,748 --> 01:10:12,750
some of them started
putting hits out on people,
1373
01:10:12,833 --> 01:10:14,877
either to take them
hostage and then get ransom
1374
01:10:14,960 --> 01:10:16,712
or just to hurt and injure.
1375
01:10:16,795 --> 01:10:18,672
The management team
looked left and right
1376
01:10:18,756 --> 01:10:24,011
and suddenly it was sort of... The
"save yourself" mode kicked in.
1377
01:10:24,428 --> 01:10:27,223
And I literally traded clothes
1378
01:10:27,556 --> 01:10:30,643
with one of the employees
that had been working with me
1379
01:10:30,726 --> 01:10:32,186
and I hid behind a urinal.
1380
01:10:32,269 --> 01:10:33,938
Someone pulled up in an old car,
1381
01:10:34,021 --> 01:10:36,398
I jumped into the back and
lay down on the back seat
1382
01:10:36,482 --> 01:10:38,651
so I could at least
get out of the village.
1383
01:10:38,817 --> 01:10:40,736
Because I couldn't
play Mother Teresa.
1384
01:10:40,819 --> 01:10:42,404
I couldn't fix this problem.
1385
01:10:42,488 --> 01:10:45,950
But I needed to go
somewhere and find safety.
1386
01:10:46,617 --> 01:10:50,579
When they realized this
thing came to an abrupt stop,
1387
01:10:50,746 --> 01:10:53,791
they all leave those
rent-a-cars running
1388
01:10:53,874 --> 01:10:55,834
with the keys in the ignition.
1389
01:10:55,918 --> 01:10:59,505
I talked to one guy who said
the door couldn't get open,
1390
01:10:59,588 --> 01:11:03,759
so a lady kicked the door
and ran to the airplane.
1391
01:11:03,842 --> 01:11:06,845
So they knew that
trouble was ahead.
1392
01:11:10,099 --> 01:11:11,684
People started to come to me
1393
01:11:12,142 --> 01:11:13,644
for, like, money. Like...
1394
01:11:14,645 --> 01:11:15,688
"You owe us.
1395
01:11:16,063 --> 01:11:17,064
Where's the money?"
1396
01:11:17,940 --> 01:11:20,985
"I don't know, but they're gone.
I don't know what to do."
1397
01:11:21,485 --> 01:11:26,073
I called Billy, I was talking to Billy.
Billy said, "Don't worry, I'll handle it."
1398
01:11:26,198 --> 01:11:29,535
Day after day passed. You know,
people were pulling up to my house.
1399
01:11:29,618 --> 01:11:32,496
They were getting mad for this money.
Like, literally mad.
1400
01:11:32,997 --> 01:11:36,083
I thought it was going to end
up in some blows getting thrown.
1401
01:11:37,042 --> 01:11:39,503
I was like, "Fuck
this, I'm out."
1402
01:11:40,170 --> 01:11:43,799
I packed my shit and I was
fucking on the next boat.
1403
01:11:43,882 --> 01:11:45,926
You know? "I can't
handle it no more."
1404
01:11:54,059 --> 01:11:57,938
I definitely had a
post-traumatic syndrome,
1405
01:11:58,022 --> 01:12:01,191
like many of us did,
for weeks and weeks
1406
01:12:01,275 --> 01:12:03,777
and a lot of it was
a guilt feeling of,
1407
01:12:03,861 --> 01:12:05,821
"Did I abandon everybody?"
1408
01:12:07,698 --> 01:12:10,159
I was the one that would
continue to say, "Listen",
1409
01:12:10,242 --> 01:12:12,411
I have been working with Billy
1410
01:12:12,953 --> 01:12:15,247
for four or five years now.
Trust him.
1411
01:12:15,331 --> 01:12:18,751
"This kid is amazing and I
think we can pull this off."
1412
01:12:19,209 --> 01:12:22,796
And we didn't, and
I felt definitely,
1413
01:12:23,255 --> 01:12:25,716
as I was able to
reflect when I got home,
1414
01:12:25,799 --> 01:12:30,721
that I had probably
led a lot of kids on.
1415
01:12:32,389 --> 01:12:34,975
You know, you just
go with somebody's...
1416
01:12:35,351 --> 01:12:38,270
It's that energy, and
the belief system,
1417
01:12:38,354 --> 01:12:40,606
and you just go and
you go and you go.
1418
01:12:40,689 --> 01:12:42,983
And then when do you stop?
And no,
1419
01:12:43,609 --> 01:12:45,652
I never thought it
would end like this.
1420
01:12:46,278 --> 01:12:49,448
I don't think anybody did. If we
did, we wouldn't have done it.
1421
01:12:56,080 --> 01:12:58,207
First, I just want to give
1422
01:12:58,290 --> 01:13:01,919
a big apology for how
the festival turned out.
1423
01:13:02,503 --> 01:13:05,130
This is obviously
the exact opposite
1424
01:13:05,214 --> 01:13:08,050
of what we were
all striving for.
1425
01:13:08,133 --> 01:13:09,510
I made it back home Monday,
1426
01:13:09,593 --> 01:13:11,095
and came to the Fyre office,
1427
01:13:11,178 --> 01:13:13,180
and that's when we had
the teamwide meeting.
1428
01:13:13,847 --> 01:13:15,808
We have to rebrand the platform.
1429
01:13:16,100 --> 01:13:19,061
My orthodontist has
read about the festival.
1430
01:13:19,228 --> 01:13:21,355
And he asked me what
I did on the festival.
1431
01:13:21,688 --> 01:13:25,609
Right now, yes, we are the fucking
laughing stock of everything.
1432
01:13:25,692 --> 01:13:27,820
We are the "Scam Fyre."
1433
01:13:27,903 --> 01:13:32,157
But that might not be the case after
we fucking put our plan in play
1434
01:13:32,241 --> 01:13:33,826
and start to spin it.
1435
01:13:33,909 --> 01:13:38,288
They used Samsung as an example of how,
you know, "This is just some bad PR."
1436
01:13:38,497 --> 01:13:41,250
"Samsung's out here blowing
people's faces off with cell phones,
1437
01:13:41,333 --> 01:13:43,085
but they're still
selling cell phones."
1438
01:13:43,168 --> 01:13:46,046
They were kind of trying to make it
seem like we would overcome this.
1439
01:13:46,130 --> 01:13:48,507
We can't dwell on
how we fucked up.
1440
01:13:48,590 --> 01:13:50,843
We can't dwell on
what made it go wrong.
1441
01:13:50,926 --> 01:13:53,345
We gotta dwell on how we
make it better in the future.
1442
01:13:53,429 --> 01:13:57,349
The vast majority of us on this phone
call were not involved with the festival,
1443
01:13:57,433 --> 01:14:00,686
and then... Or actively
told not to be involved.
1444
01:14:00,936 --> 01:14:01,936
So it was...
1445
01:14:02,271 --> 01:14:04,606
painful to be honest.
We put, you know,
1446
01:14:04,690 --> 01:14:07,860
a big, very talented team,
1447
01:14:07,943 --> 01:14:10,404
put a ton of hours
into that software.
1448
01:14:11,572 --> 01:14:13,615
The reality is that I just
believed in the core app
1449
01:14:13,699 --> 01:14:14,992
that we're building so much,
1450
01:14:15,075 --> 01:14:17,703
that I was blind to a lot of
what was going on internally
1451
01:14:17,786 --> 01:14:18,829
with what we were doing.
1452
01:14:18,912 --> 01:14:22,416
I mean, it was something that
we worked on for an entire year.
1453
01:14:23,375 --> 01:14:28,255
And because of the festival, we
lost everything within seconds.
1454
01:14:29,006 --> 01:14:31,258
Is there any way that
the product can be built
1455
01:14:31,341 --> 01:14:35,095
- while we take a step back?
- No. Absolutely not.
1456
01:14:35,762 --> 01:14:39,433
He was saying, "We are a family,
it's time for us to band together."
1457
01:14:39,516 --> 01:14:42,853
And I was feeling like
that was so manipulative.
1458
01:14:42,936 --> 01:14:45,522
We're not a family, you
won't even tell me anything!
1459
01:14:45,606 --> 01:14:48,192
You've completely violated
all the trust that we had
1460
01:14:48,275 --> 01:14:51,028
in the product, in the company,
in the brand and in you
1461
01:14:51,111 --> 01:14:55,240
and public reception is a separate
and almost unrelated problem.
1462
01:14:55,574 --> 01:14:56,574
Come on, guys!
1463
01:14:56,783 --> 01:15:00,412
There's a lot of smart people
on this fucking phone call, man.
1464
01:15:00,871 --> 01:15:03,749
Let's think of how to dig
ourselves out of this shit, man.
1465
01:15:04,500 --> 01:15:07,252
We didn't kill anybody,
nobody got hurt.
1466
01:15:07,336 --> 01:15:09,838
We made a mistake,
we'll get past it.
1467
01:15:10,422 --> 01:15:12,090
I mean, granted, nobody died,
1468
01:15:12,174 --> 01:15:15,594
but we did flat-out lie to the
public about what we're giving them.
1469
01:15:16,094 --> 01:15:17,346
I mean, that's fraud.
1470
01:15:18,472 --> 01:15:21,725
Like, and that's not okay
as a company operates.
1471
01:15:22,309 --> 01:15:23,519
That's not fraud.
1472
01:15:25,145 --> 01:15:26,313
That's not fraud.
1473
01:15:26,939 --> 01:15:30,192
That is, uh...
I would call that...
1474
01:15:30,275 --> 01:15:31,652
"false advertising."
1475
01:15:35,322 --> 01:15:36,949
As we were getting on the plane,
1476
01:15:37,032 --> 01:15:40,786
I think I tweeted something like,
"See you later, Fyre Festival.
1477
01:15:40,869 --> 01:15:43,413
You'll be hearing from
Stacy Miller, my lawyer."
1478
01:15:43,497 --> 01:15:45,707
I thought to myself,
"That's a little strange."
1479
01:15:45,791 --> 01:15:48,377
So I looked on Facebook and
Facebook was going crazy
1480
01:15:48,460 --> 01:15:52,422
with this Fyre Festival, of which
I had never even heard about.
1481
01:15:52,506 --> 01:15:54,675
And, the day after,
it was announced
1482
01:15:54,758 --> 01:15:58,011
that there was a $100 million class
action lawsuit that was filed.
1483
01:15:58,220 --> 01:16:00,389
In my experience with
class action lawsuits,
1484
01:16:00,472 --> 01:16:03,350
it was not going to get
resolved anytime soon.
1485
01:16:03,433 --> 01:16:05,310
So we decided to
file independently.
1486
01:16:06,186 --> 01:16:08,272
The suit was for
committing fraud
1487
01:16:08,355 --> 01:16:10,899
saying, "Look at how great,
this is going to be,"
1488
01:16:10,983 --> 01:16:13,694
when they knew all
along it was going to be
1489
01:16:13,777 --> 01:16:15,946
nothing close to
what was advertised.
1490
01:16:16,530 --> 01:16:18,156
I feel very strongly that
1491
01:16:18,240 --> 01:16:19,908
if I had bought tickets
to the festival,
1492
01:16:19,992 --> 01:16:24,162
I'd name every single one of the people
that advertised for it in the lawsuit.
1493
01:16:25,831 --> 01:16:27,874
What made this so interesting
1494
01:16:27,958 --> 01:16:30,002
was they made it
all look organic
1495
01:16:30,085 --> 01:16:33,088
and, like, a bunch of
celebrities and famous people
1496
01:16:33,171 --> 01:16:35,507
were planning to attend
this music festival.
1497
01:16:35,591 --> 01:16:39,678
And that's why the impact and reach,
in my mind, was as great as it was.
1498
01:16:40,887 --> 01:16:42,639
That was a big
criticism of people.
1499
01:16:42,723 --> 01:16:45,183
"How could you market
something that wasn't real?"
1500
01:16:45,267 --> 01:16:46,643
You know? But it's like...
1501
01:16:46,727 --> 01:16:49,855
everything was real.
Everything looked real.
1502
01:16:50,939 --> 01:16:53,942
If you get hired to
do a BMW commercial
1503
01:16:54,026 --> 01:16:56,403
and that BMW then
has a faulty engine,
1504
01:16:56,486 --> 01:16:58,405
how the fuck can
you possibly know
1505
01:16:58,488 --> 01:17:01,283
whether they'll do good on what
they said they were gonna do?
1506
01:17:01,533 --> 01:17:04,786
That's like saying the sound guy,
and the DP, and the location scout
1507
01:17:04,870 --> 01:17:07,122
has to do business due
diligence on whether or not
1508
01:17:07,205 --> 01:17:08,565
something's actually
gonna happen.
1509
01:17:09,541 --> 01:17:11,877
How could we ask the models
1510
01:17:11,960 --> 01:17:15,005
to have the kind of awareness
of the Fyre Festival
1511
01:17:15,088 --> 01:17:18,425
that I myself didn't have,
being an employee of Fyre Media?
1512
01:17:21,136 --> 01:17:24,431
We certainly wanted to send
the message to influencers
1513
01:17:24,514 --> 01:17:26,558
that when you post a photograph,
1514
01:17:26,642 --> 01:17:29,478
and you don't say
"#advertisement,"
1515
01:17:29,561 --> 01:17:32,981
there is some level
of responsibility.
1516
01:17:33,815 --> 01:17:37,778
The government, because of this incident,
has been cracking down more and more.
1517
01:17:37,861 --> 01:17:41,198
Bella Hadid is now
apologizing to her fans.
1518
01:17:41,281 --> 01:17:43,408
"I initially trusted
this would be an amazing
1519
01:17:43,492 --> 01:17:45,702
and memorable experience
for all of us."
1520
01:17:45,786 --> 01:17:49,581
I don't think that they knew or
were malicious in their intent.
1521
01:17:50,165 --> 01:17:52,751
I don't think anybody
fully appreciated
1522
01:17:52,834 --> 01:17:55,462
the extent of Billy's fraud
1523
01:17:55,545 --> 01:17:57,381
and where he was
gonna go with this.
1524
01:18:01,009 --> 01:18:02,386
They all kept working,
1525
01:18:02,803 --> 01:18:04,930
I think, a week or two
after the festival,
1526
01:18:05,013 --> 01:18:07,265
and then Billy scheduled
an all-hands meeting
1527
01:18:07,349 --> 01:18:10,477
where he was going to debrief everyone
and explain what was happening.
1528
01:18:36,253 --> 01:18:38,338
The fact that he let, you know,
1529
01:18:38,422 --> 01:18:43,301
20 to 30 people just get completely
let go with zero remorse...
1530
01:18:44,302 --> 01:18:46,555
goes a lot to show you
what type of person he is.
1531
01:19:02,028 --> 01:19:05,532
An FBI agent showed up at the door
of my parents' apartment building
1532
01:19:05,615 --> 01:19:07,743
and gave his card to the doorman
1533
01:19:07,826 --> 01:19:09,786
and said, "I'm looking
for Marc Weinstein."
1534
01:19:09,870 --> 01:19:11,872
He's not in trouble,
but have him call me."
1535
01:19:11,955 --> 01:19:13,331
I was happy to talk to him
1536
01:19:13,415 --> 01:19:15,959
because I felt that there was
some justice happening here.
1537
01:19:16,042 --> 01:19:17,878
I spoke to the FBI,
yeah, of course.
1538
01:19:18,128 --> 01:19:20,422
That was the first time
I really understood
1539
01:19:20,756 --> 01:19:22,007
what Billy had done.
1540
01:19:23,049 --> 01:19:25,886
But I couldn't believe
what they were showing me.
1541
01:19:28,430 --> 01:19:29,973
Billy was...
1542
01:19:30,056 --> 01:19:32,601
frauding investors who
invested in Fyre Festival
1543
01:19:32,684 --> 01:19:35,479
based on how well we
were doing as a company
1544
01:19:35,562 --> 01:19:36,772
within Fyre Media.
1545
01:19:37,898 --> 01:19:40,066
My understanding is, he'd
been telling investors
1546
01:19:40,150 --> 01:19:42,527
that he booked
Drake for $100,000,
1547
01:19:42,611 --> 01:19:44,529
which never happened.
We never booked Drake.
1548
01:19:44,613 --> 01:19:46,281
You know, he was
lying to investors,
1549
01:19:46,364 --> 01:19:48,617
making it seem we were
making money when we weren't.
1550
01:19:49,785 --> 01:19:53,872
The original report showed
about $1.5 million in offers.
1551
01:19:53,955 --> 01:19:57,501
The report that was doctored
under Billy's instruction
1552
01:19:57,584 --> 01:19:59,878
showed closer to $35 milion.
1553
01:20:00,670 --> 01:20:03,924
Billy claimed that they had been
given an island in the Bahamas
1554
01:20:04,007 --> 01:20:06,635
worth $8 million, when,
in fact, they had not.
1555
01:20:06,968 --> 01:20:08,303
Billy falsely claimed
1556
01:20:08,386 --> 01:20:11,348
that he had more than $2
million in Facebook stocks,
1557
01:20:11,431 --> 01:20:14,351
when in fact he
had about $1,500.
1558
01:20:14,434 --> 01:20:17,229
Billy McFarland
charged with wire fraud
1559
01:20:17,312 --> 01:20:18,730
in federal court.
1560
01:20:18,814 --> 01:20:21,316
McFarland allegedly
sent fake documents
1561
01:20:21,399 --> 01:20:23,735
claiming the company
made millions in revenue.
1562
01:20:23,819 --> 01:20:26,696
He'd only earned
less than $60,000.
1563
01:20:28,365 --> 01:20:29,366
I knew Billy,
1564
01:20:29,449 --> 01:20:32,577
but I never knew he was capable
of doing something like that.
1565
01:20:33,036 --> 01:20:36,790
This guy really made me feel
like he was part of my family.
1566
01:20:36,873 --> 01:20:39,042
I invited him to
dinners with my family,
1567
01:20:39,125 --> 01:20:41,628
and for him to do
what he did, you know,
1568
01:20:41,711 --> 01:20:46,341
I lost that judge of character in
people that I thought, you know, I had,
1569
01:20:46,424 --> 01:20:49,052
and that was really
difficult for me.
1570
01:20:49,135 --> 01:20:53,223
He really leveraged your existing
emotional investment in this team
1571
01:20:53,306 --> 01:20:56,601
and in this product to extort
you to investing even more.
1572
01:20:56,685 --> 01:20:57,936
This was Billy's charm.
1573
01:20:58,854 --> 01:21:01,314
Like, Billy could just
sell you on anything.
1574
01:21:01,648 --> 01:21:03,900
He's an operational sociopath.
1575
01:21:03,984 --> 01:21:06,319
The reason he racked
up millions of dollars
1576
01:21:06,403 --> 01:21:09,155
on the Fyre app AmEx card
1577
01:21:09,239 --> 01:21:12,617
was to pay for Magnises tickets
1578
01:21:12,701 --> 01:21:14,786
for his Magnises users.
1579
01:21:15,036 --> 01:21:16,746
He got almost all
of it paid off,
1580
01:21:16,830 --> 01:21:19,749
except for the
remaining $250,000,
1581
01:21:20,000 --> 01:21:23,628
which now I'm being
sued by AmEx for.
1582
01:21:24,212 --> 01:21:30,302
He left $150,000 of
outstanding bills
1583
01:21:30,385 --> 01:21:33,763
on my personal American Express
because of the festival as well.
1584
01:21:35,056 --> 01:21:38,018
We lost a lot of money.
A lot of money.
1585
01:21:38,435 --> 01:21:39,561
A lot.
1586
01:21:39,644 --> 01:21:42,397
Hundreds of thousands of
dollars, without a doubt.
1587
01:21:42,898 --> 01:21:44,774
A lot of people didn't get paid.
1588
01:21:45,233 --> 01:21:47,360
A lot of my workers
didn't get paid.
1589
01:21:47,861 --> 01:21:49,279
He kept on saying,
1590
01:21:49,654 --> 01:21:52,073
"The money is coming,
J.R., the money is coming."
1591
01:21:52,157 --> 01:21:53,325
It never reached.
1592
01:21:53,408 --> 01:21:56,620
So there was a group of Bahamian
locals that built the festival site.
1593
01:21:57,454 --> 01:21:58,830
They were never paid.
1594
01:21:59,331 --> 01:22:00,582
The estimate that I heard
1595
01:22:00,665 --> 01:22:04,169
was a quarter of a million dollars
was owed in day wages to them.
1596
01:22:04,753 --> 01:22:07,839
I had ten persons
working directly with me,
1597
01:22:07,923 --> 01:22:12,010
just preparing food all day
and all night, 24 hours.
1598
01:22:12,510 --> 01:22:16,556
I had to literally pay all those people.
I am here as a Bahamian.
1599
01:22:16,640 --> 01:22:19,100
And they stand in
my face every day.
1600
01:22:19,517 --> 01:22:22,812
I went through about
$50,000 of my savings
1601
01:22:23,271 --> 01:22:25,440
that I could have
had for a rainy day.
1602
01:22:26,858 --> 01:22:30,320
They just wiped it out
and never looked back.
1603
01:22:31,947 --> 01:22:35,784
Personally, I don't even like
to talk about the Fyre Festival.
1604
01:22:36,284 --> 01:22:40,830
Just take it away and just
let me start a new beginning.
1605
01:22:41,289 --> 01:22:43,959
'Cause they really hurt me.
1606
01:22:47,796 --> 01:22:49,839
I am really hurt from that.
1607
01:22:53,134 --> 01:22:56,972
To see nobody return to say, "Let
me take care of what she's done,
1608
01:22:57,055 --> 01:22:58,640
we know she has done right."
1609
01:23:03,269 --> 01:23:06,189
I just leave it alone,
'cause it really pains me
1610
01:23:06,272 --> 01:23:09,943
when I have to talk about
it so I just wipe it away.
1611
01:23:19,119 --> 01:23:20,453
Are you sorry?
1612
01:23:20,537 --> 01:23:22,956
Thank you, guys. I'll arrange
a comment later. Thank you.
1613
01:23:23,039 --> 01:23:27,002
He was released on
Saturday on $300,000 bail.
1614
01:23:27,085 --> 01:23:28,420
He claims he is broke.
1615
01:23:28,503 --> 01:23:30,922
He has apparently moved
back in with his parents.
1616
01:23:31,214 --> 01:23:34,300
Fortunately, I think Billy is
currently living in the basement
1617
01:23:34,384 --> 01:23:36,469
of his parents' New Jersey home.
1618
01:23:36,553 --> 01:23:38,179
He's no longer in his penthouse.
1619
01:23:38,263 --> 01:23:41,224
He's no longer riding
around in Maseratis
1620
01:23:41,307 --> 01:23:43,268
and flaunting the
wealth that he stole.
1621
01:23:51,860 --> 01:23:53,903
Coming back to the Fyre
Festival for a second.
1622
01:23:53,987 --> 01:23:56,614
You should make a Fyre
Festival game, dude.
1623
01:23:56,698 --> 01:23:57,949
'Cause you're going through...
1624
01:23:58,033 --> 01:24:00,076
They did the Fyre Festival
on Saturday Night Live.
1625
01:24:00,160 --> 01:24:01,411
I know!
1626
01:24:01,911 --> 01:24:03,955
You could turn
this into so much.
1627
01:24:04,039 --> 01:24:06,082
You just gotta accept
the Fyre Festival,
1628
01:24:06,166 --> 01:24:10,045
and you could turn this shit into gold,
like, a pot of gold and then run with it.
1629
01:24:10,128 --> 01:24:11,046
I'm not allowed.
1630
01:24:11,129 --> 01:24:13,006
- Wait, really?
- Angelo, help me.
1631
01:24:13,089 --> 01:24:14,424
Wait, why aren't you...
1632
01:24:14,507 --> 01:24:17,510
I hadn't spoken to
Billy since he was...
1633
01:24:17,594 --> 01:24:20,055
arrested and released on bail.
1634
01:24:20,138 --> 01:24:21,931
So he asked us to come down
1635
01:24:22,015 --> 01:24:24,434
to this hotel where
he was staying at,
1636
01:24:24,601 --> 01:24:27,270
and he asked us if we could
bring our video equipment,
1637
01:24:27,353 --> 01:24:28,855
we can do all of that stuff.
1638
01:24:28,938 --> 01:24:31,274
And we didn't really know
what we were gonna be filming.
1639
01:24:31,357 --> 01:24:33,902
Yeah, just film
around the clock.
1640
01:24:33,985 --> 01:24:36,705
The one thing I've learned from this
is the more footage, the better.
1641
01:24:37,280 --> 01:24:39,491
How was he living while
he was out on bail?
1642
01:24:39,574 --> 01:24:40,742
He wasn't living like me.
1643
01:24:41,201 --> 01:24:44,204
Billy was living...
He was living large.
1644
01:24:44,287 --> 01:24:45,872
That penthouse was beautiful.
1645
01:24:46,706 --> 01:24:49,709
I just had a little
bit of a confused face.
1646
01:24:49,793 --> 01:24:52,670
Like, "How are you able
to pay for all of this?"
1647
01:24:56,716 --> 01:24:58,343
There was a guy named Angelo.
1648
01:24:58,426 --> 01:25:01,471
And I don't know if
it was Billy's PR guy,
1649
01:25:01,554 --> 01:25:03,723
but I know that this
guy was very connected.
1650
01:25:04,057 --> 01:25:05,892
That is the...
1651
01:25:10,855 --> 01:25:13,775
Just try to keep me out of
your stuff because my...
1652
01:25:14,275 --> 01:25:15,902
I can't say anything.
1653
01:25:16,361 --> 01:25:18,238
We're not saying anything bad.
You can talk.
1654
01:25:18,321 --> 01:25:19,989
You know, you can
give me advice.
1655
01:25:20,824 --> 01:25:23,284
We talked about my experiences
1656
01:25:23,368 --> 01:25:24,744
in the legal system
1657
01:25:24,828 --> 01:25:27,872
and I'll never forget
what he said to me.
1658
01:25:27,956 --> 01:25:30,583
He looked me dead
in my face and said,
1659
01:25:31,167 --> 01:25:32,669
"I'm not going to jail."
1660
01:25:33,419 --> 01:25:36,756
Well, I was like, "This man either
knows something that I don't"
1661
01:25:37,340 --> 01:25:39,676
or he is certifiably insane."
1662
01:25:44,305 --> 01:25:46,766
NYC VIP Access
1663
01:25:46,850 --> 01:25:50,311
was a company that
reached out to me
1664
01:25:50,395 --> 01:25:52,480
December 15th, 2017...
1665
01:25:53,064 --> 01:25:56,860
with an offer to the
2018 Masters tournament.
1666
01:25:56,943 --> 01:25:58,319
It was from a guy named Frank.
1667
01:25:58,403 --> 01:26:01,197
It just said, "Hey,
we've got these tickets"
1668
01:26:01,281 --> 01:26:04,784
to the 2018 Masters. It'd be
great for you or your clients.
1669
01:26:05,160 --> 01:26:06,411
"Let us know if you want."
1670
01:26:06,494 --> 01:26:10,123
And so I texted my friend Morgan,
"Did you guys get this Masters email?"
1671
01:26:10,206 --> 01:26:11,206
"Yeah. I got that too."
1672
01:26:11,249 --> 01:26:12,750
And so I'm like, okay, clearly
1673
01:26:12,834 --> 01:26:16,004
somebody's targeting the
Fyre Festival email list.
1674
01:26:17,422 --> 01:26:21,050
December 19th, "Gift the
gift of private flights."
1675
01:26:22,093 --> 01:26:26,055
December 21st, again
from NYC VIP Access,
1676
01:26:26,139 --> 01:26:30,435
"Coachella 2018 VIP
passes for $500."
1677
01:26:30,518 --> 01:26:33,646
"Please email me or call phone
number to reserve. Frank."
1678
01:26:34,105 --> 01:26:35,690
January 2nd,
1679
01:26:35,773 --> 01:26:40,486
"Meet Ed Sheeran, Demi Lovato, DJ
Khaled, Taylor Swift and more."
1680
01:26:40,570 --> 01:26:42,864
We want to one-up your
New Year's resolutions
1681
01:26:42,947 --> 01:26:45,200
by making your dreams
become a reality.
1682
01:26:45,283 --> 01:26:48,203
"Please email or call to reserve.
Frank."
1683
01:26:48,620 --> 01:26:50,246
"Burning Man, 2018."
1684
01:26:50,330 --> 01:26:52,498
"Courtside at MSG
1685
01:26:52,582 --> 01:26:54,125
and dinner with LeBron."
1686
01:26:54,209 --> 01:26:57,587
"Victoria Secret Fashion
Show," "Met Gala,
1687
01:26:57,670 --> 01:26:59,422
red carpet and gala tickets.
1688
01:26:59,505 --> 01:27:02,133
Please email, text or
call me to reserve.
1689
01:27:02,217 --> 01:27:04,552
"First come, first serve.
Frank."
1690
01:27:05,970 --> 01:27:06,971
So we're basically
1691
01:27:07,055 --> 01:27:10,975
selling 2018 Grammy tickets.
VIP Access, baby.
1692
01:27:12,435 --> 01:27:13,645
What's the next number?
1693
01:27:15,271 --> 01:27:18,650
I first started hearing about
the NYC VIP Access emails
1694
01:27:18,733 --> 01:27:19,651
in December.
1695
01:27:19,734 --> 01:27:23,029
When I realized that multiple
people who had attended the festival
1696
01:27:23,112 --> 01:27:24,906
were getting the emails,
1697
01:27:24,989 --> 01:27:27,951
that was when I really started
to look at it more seriously.
1698
01:27:28,409 --> 01:27:30,620
Met Gala tickets
can't be purchased
1699
01:27:30,703 --> 01:27:34,290
and anyone who attends has to be
approved by Anna Wintour in advance.
1700
01:27:34,499 --> 01:27:37,210
The Victoria's Secret Show
hadn't even been cast yet.
1701
01:27:37,293 --> 01:27:39,754
Taylor Swift, she's
very open about the fact
1702
01:27:39,837 --> 01:27:41,464
that she doesn't
do meet-and-greets.
1703
01:27:41,547 --> 01:27:43,967
Burning Man told me that
they had not sold any tickets
1704
01:27:44,050 --> 01:27:47,262
and that there were no sponsors
who would have tickets available.
1705
01:27:47,428 --> 01:27:50,014
Pretty much everything that
they offered was debunked
1706
01:27:50,098 --> 01:27:52,141
through just a quick phone
call or a Google search.
1707
01:27:59,607 --> 01:28:01,401
That's fucking
hustling right here.
1708
01:28:02,652 --> 01:28:04,654
The first time I
met Frank Tribble
1709
01:28:04,737 --> 01:28:06,364
was at the hotel.
1710
01:28:06,447 --> 01:28:08,074
I had never seen him before
1711
01:28:08,157 --> 01:28:11,119
and usually the people who are
around Billy, I'm familiar with.
1712
01:28:11,202 --> 01:28:15,331
The strangest thing was he
actually had on a Magnises hat,
1713
01:28:15,415 --> 01:28:17,500
he had on, like, a Fyre sweater.
1714
01:28:17,834 --> 01:28:22,422
Frank is, I think, 22 or 23,
and Billy had reached out to him
1715
01:28:22,505 --> 01:28:24,716
and said, "I'm
starting this company",
1716
01:28:24,799 --> 01:28:27,927
but I'm kind of in some hot
water related to Fyre Festival,
1717
01:28:28,011 --> 01:28:30,513
"so I need you to
be the face of it."
1718
01:28:30,596 --> 01:28:31,723
Hi, is this Zachary?
1719
01:28:32,515 --> 01:28:35,643
Zachary, this is Frank
calling from NYC VIP Access.
1720
01:28:35,727 --> 01:28:37,770
The reason I was actually
giving you a call,
1721
01:28:37,854 --> 01:28:41,566
the Grammys are gonna be held in New
York City on Sunday January 28th,
1722
01:28:41,649 --> 01:28:42,942
in Madison Square Garden,
1723
01:28:43,026 --> 01:28:45,320
and we're actually selling
VIP tickets for that event.
1724
01:28:45,445 --> 01:28:48,698
According to the FBI,
15 people gave him
1725
01:28:48,781 --> 01:28:51,159
over $100,000 for those tickets.
1726
01:28:51,451 --> 01:28:54,203
Josh, Frank is gonna
call off the list.
1727
01:28:54,287 --> 01:28:56,331
If they don't pick up,
you send them an email.
1728
01:28:56,414 --> 01:28:58,583
I'll write a script for
you right now, okay?
1729
01:28:59,959 --> 01:29:01,210
What are you recording?
1730
01:29:02,795 --> 01:29:07,300
It's hard for me to say if these
guys didn't know what was going on.
1731
01:29:07,717 --> 01:29:11,929
But I also know that Billy is really
good at keeping a level of information...
1732
01:29:12,472 --> 01:29:13,931
below and above.
1733
01:29:14,432 --> 01:29:17,352
For every call, call twice in
a row if they don't pick up.
1734
01:29:17,894 --> 01:29:19,854
Everybody picks up
on the second ring.
1735
01:29:24,734 --> 01:29:26,235
Let's cut for now. Thanks.
1736
01:29:27,153 --> 01:29:29,572
On June 12th,
I published an article
1737
01:29:29,655 --> 01:29:32,658
outlining all the crossover
between Billy McFarland
1738
01:29:32,742 --> 01:29:34,452
and New York City VIP Access,
1739
01:29:34,952 --> 01:29:36,913
and about six hours later
1740
01:29:36,996 --> 01:29:41,000
Billy was rearrested and
charged with five felonies.
1741
01:29:41,334 --> 01:29:43,920
They included fraud,
money laundering,
1742
01:29:44,337 --> 01:29:47,256
identity theft, and
witness intimidation
1743
01:29:47,340 --> 01:29:51,177
after he warned at least two
people not to talk to the FBI
1744
01:29:51,260 --> 01:29:54,639
and to pretend that they were
represented by legal counsel
1745
01:29:54,722 --> 01:29:55,848
when they were not.
1746
01:29:58,518 --> 01:30:01,270
I mean, the idea
of him doing this
1747
01:30:01,354 --> 01:30:04,065
while he's out on bail
is mind-blowing to me.
1748
01:30:04,148 --> 01:30:07,693
Because you're already under
the biggest microscope,
1749
01:30:07,777 --> 01:30:10,905
and then you're gonna go
and commit another scam.
1750
01:30:10,988 --> 01:30:15,118
Like, I just don't understand
why he didn't just stop.
1751
01:30:16,869 --> 01:30:19,205
You said Billy asked
you about going, what...
1752
01:30:19,288 --> 01:30:21,165
What was he asking
you about jail?
1753
01:30:22,166 --> 01:30:26,379
Well, unfortunately, I
had a misstep in my past,
1754
01:30:26,462 --> 01:30:27,462
and, um...
1755
01:30:28,172 --> 01:30:30,508
I unfortunately experienced it.
1756
01:30:31,050 --> 01:30:32,802
And I was in there
for two months.
1757
01:30:32,885 --> 01:30:36,639
And, you know, he just flat out asked me.
He was like, "What was it like?"
1758
01:30:36,722 --> 01:30:40,059
And I was like, "It's 23/1
for the first seven days."
1759
01:30:40,143 --> 01:30:41,686
He was like, "What's 23/1?"
1760
01:30:42,270 --> 01:30:45,273
"You're in a fucking
cell for 23 hours."
1761
01:30:45,815 --> 01:30:47,525
And then they let
you out for one.
1762
01:30:48,067 --> 01:30:49,777
You better stretch
your legs, walk around,
1763
01:30:49,861 --> 01:30:52,572
do whatever you need to
do, but you're in there
1764
01:30:52,780 --> 01:30:56,033
until you're processed. After that,
they put you where they need to put you,
1765
01:30:56,117 --> 01:30:58,119
"until you get sent up north."
1766
01:30:58,202 --> 01:31:03,249
And I remember the energy off of him.
And it was just like...
1767
01:31:04,667 --> 01:31:08,379
That shit was so far
away from what he knew
1768
01:31:08,629 --> 01:31:10,798
and what he experienced
in his life,
1769
01:31:10,882 --> 01:31:13,551
that the cognitive dissonance
just led him to say,
1770
01:31:13,634 --> 01:31:15,052
"I'm not going to jail."
1771
01:31:25,938 --> 01:31:27,440
I reflected on myself
1772
01:31:28,232 --> 01:31:30,818
and I was questioning to
what extent was I guilty,
1773
01:31:30,902 --> 01:31:33,237
to what extent was I
complicit in all of this.
1774
01:31:33,654 --> 01:31:36,491
And I looked back at my
posts on social media
1775
01:31:36,574 --> 01:31:39,285
and it was like all beautiful
beaches and sunsets.
1776
01:31:39,952 --> 01:31:41,037
You know? And...
1777
01:31:41,537 --> 01:31:44,582
And I was going through the
hardest experience of my life,
1778
01:31:44,665 --> 01:31:47,084
and yet if you had seen
it, you'd have been like,
1779
01:31:47,168 --> 01:31:48,728
"Wow, what a great
life this guy leads.
1780
01:31:48,753 --> 01:31:51,964
He's living in the Bahamas,
going to beaches all day."
1781
01:31:52,048 --> 01:31:55,635
And Fyre shows what happens when
you take that to an extreme.
1782
01:31:58,137 --> 01:32:01,599
I've said this multiple times - the
real Fyre Festival happened twice.
1783
01:32:01,682 --> 01:32:02,767
It was the shoots.
1784
01:32:03,643 --> 01:32:06,354
What the commercial was
was what everybody wanted.
1785
01:32:06,437 --> 01:32:07,480
The shoots were parties.
1786
01:32:07,897 --> 01:32:10,900
It just happened to happen
for 60 people versus 6,000.
1787
01:32:12,193 --> 01:32:13,193
It was epic.
1788
01:32:13,236 --> 01:32:17,031
It was nothing I never saw before
in my whole entire life. Like...
1789
01:32:17,114 --> 01:32:20,368
I'm from the Bahamas, man. We're
used to small island stuff.
1790
01:32:20,451 --> 01:32:24,330
That was like... That put me up
on a new level, a higher level.
1791
01:32:25,373 --> 01:32:28,501
We're living in this
influencers society, you know?
1792
01:32:28,584 --> 01:32:31,796
Everybody wants to
have this online clout,
1793
01:32:31,879 --> 01:32:34,090
people want to have access
1794
01:32:34,173 --> 01:32:36,259
and they want exclusivity.
1795
01:32:36,968 --> 01:32:40,429
Fyre was basically, like,
Instagram coming to life.
1796
01:32:40,513 --> 01:32:42,932
It actually dovetails
really interestingly with
1797
01:32:43,015 --> 01:32:45,184
just random news stories
that have come out since.
1798
01:32:45,268 --> 01:32:47,395
I was reading about
a company in Russia
1799
01:32:47,478 --> 01:32:51,649
that now will sell people like
three hours to do a photo shoot
1800
01:32:51,732 --> 01:32:54,026
on a private jet that's
just parked on the tarmac.
1801
01:32:54,110 --> 01:32:55,611
They never actually leave,
1802
01:32:55,695 --> 01:32:58,155
but they get to take the
picture looking out the window,
1803
01:32:58,239 --> 01:33:00,533
and pretending that they're
living this lifestyle.
1804
01:33:00,616 --> 01:33:03,452
And, like, they're successful.
People are using it.
1805
01:33:03,786 --> 01:33:07,456
Billy seemed really invested
in that whole lifestyle.
1806
01:33:07,790 --> 01:33:11,419
Yo, I wanna say happy
birthday to my brother,
1807
01:33:11,502 --> 01:33:15,756
my partner Billy in the building.
Happy birthday, Billy.
1808
01:33:15,965 --> 01:33:19,468
I think it was important to him not
just to be on a plane with a model,
1809
01:33:19,552 --> 01:33:21,804
but to feel like
that was his life.
1810
01:33:21,887 --> 01:33:24,765
That he belonged there. And
not because he owns Fyre,
1811
01:33:24,849 --> 01:33:26,434
but because that's who he was.
1812
01:33:26,892 --> 01:33:29,770
He was completely out
of his depth, and he's,
1813
01:33:29,854 --> 01:33:33,107
unfortunately for himself,
a compulsive liar.
1814
01:33:33,941 --> 01:33:37,278
And someone that at the end, you
know, should be held accountable.
1815
01:33:38,779 --> 01:33:40,656
He has a massive debt,
1816
01:33:40,740 --> 01:33:43,659
not just to the people who
invested or to the concert-goers.
1817
01:33:43,743 --> 01:33:46,037
I think he has a larger
debt to the employees
1818
01:33:46,120 --> 01:33:48,456
that were reporting
and working with him.
1819
01:33:48,789 --> 01:33:51,542
The only way, in my opinion,
a guy like this learns his lesson
1820
01:33:51,626 --> 01:33:53,085
is actually going to jail.
1821
01:33:55,254 --> 01:33:58,299
I don't think that we've heard
the last of Billy McFarland.
1822
01:33:58,382 --> 01:34:00,384
I mean, if there's anything
that guy is good at,
1823
01:34:00,468 --> 01:34:02,762
it's separating consumers
from their cash.
1824
01:34:02,845 --> 01:34:05,097
And if there's anything
that this country
1825
01:34:05,181 --> 01:34:07,224
celebrates more than
that, I don't know.
1826
01:34:08,643 --> 01:34:12,605
Billy has a presence where, you know,
there's something behind the smile.
1827
01:34:13,773 --> 01:34:15,816
I wouldn't be surprised if
ten years down the line,
1828
01:34:15,900 --> 01:34:17,360
we're hearing about
Billy McFarland
1829
01:34:17,443 --> 01:34:19,654
starting some kind of
other venture that's...
1830
01:34:19,737 --> 01:34:21,781
you know, imaginative and, uh,
1831
01:34:22,156 --> 01:34:24,200
and gets some serious momentum
1832
01:34:24,700 --> 01:34:27,328
and, you know, this all
happens in some form again.
1833
01:34:27,453 --> 01:34:28,453
[laughs}
1834
01:34:59,026 --> 01:35:00,026
It's Billy!
1835
01:35:01,070 --> 01:35:02,196
What's up, Billy?
1836
01:35:03,114 --> 01:35:05,282
I'm in front of the cameraman.
I'm talking...
1837
01:35:05,574 --> 01:35:06,992
I'm good.
1838
01:35:08,285 --> 01:35:11,539
Yeah. I'm putting
in some good words.
1839
01:35:12,415 --> 01:35:14,917
You want me to say anything
on the camera for you?
1840
01:35:17,128 --> 01:35:18,128
All right.
1841
01:35:22,258 --> 01:35:23,676
All right. Action!
157870
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