The best thing about this guy partying is that he basically was some dude who won the tickets and went there for free, he had no expectations and found the hordes of influencers and such totally miserable absolutely hilarious
@Brain rich just like the video says, except for some influencers most people only paid a couple of hundred bucks each, not that expensive for a (supposedly) completely arranged 2 weeks holiday with food, shelter, entertainment booze etc. Doubt many of the people there were rich.
Bill was an idiot for losing Norman’s Cay, but imagine the same shitstorm happening except on a private island. No taxis, no neighboring resorts, no nearby help. Just you, a lost crowd, and FEMA tents on an isolated island.
@CaseyDevroe But it is just a great concept, imagine it: A luxury festival is advertised all over the place, celebrities and the media are in it. Tickets are advertised as high as $1 Million, but you can get an all expenses paid ticket for as low as $1000. There are going to be musicians, spas, EVERYTHING. So you buy a ticket with some friends and go. You fly to the Bahamas and go onto a boat with thousands of other people. Together you sail out to an unassuming island, where you spot… nothing actually. After arriving at the one and only port, which is broken down, you go up a dirt road to find FEMA tents. You have no cell reception, infrastructure, communication to the outside world. You’re stranded on a island with thousands of other people who are in the exact same situation as you are. Except there are some immediate classes: The guests, the staff, and whichever famous person didn’t get the memo to *NOT* show up. The guests rebel against the weak grasp of the staff, for they represented the company that brought them there. The celebrities flee for the hills or become unwilling god kings to the mob. Complete anarchy settles in as all semblance of law and order kneels before the needs of food, water, and shelter. Factions form among the guests, and you are there, forced to go along with the ride. I would imagine that during this situation, the fictional company behind the festival would go into full damage control mode, denying everything occurring on the island and blocking every attempt at foreign aid. The news would probably begin the narrative of “they are all rich people”, which would be harder and harder to maintain with time. The Bahamian government and the UN would try to establish order, which would only bring more chaos. Also, I would imagine individuals from all over the world would flock to “join” the island (similar the Spanish Civil War, where Anarchists from all over the globe flocked to join the large scale Anarchist movement there), with motives ranging all across the board. Ranging from the innocent to the malevolent. Though I doubt this would become an actual FarCry game, because Ubisoft would never greenlight this idea. That is because “Luxury Festival goes awry due to poor planning, guests establish lawless-commune on private island” is inherently anti-corporate. And Ubisoft doesn’t have the balls to produce something like that.
It's worth mentioning that they did actually rent out Norman's Cay, but the owners expressly forbid them from mentioning Pablo Escobar, which Billy started doing almost immediately, causing the contract to be cancelled.
@MidlBrwn Actually it does matter. The original commenter said "The island owners forbid them from mentioning Pablo Escobar", but that doesn't make any sense because Escobar had _literally nothing to do with the island_ If you had read the thread before piping up you would have discovered that they apparently didn't say Escobar, but any cartel members. That's like saying "Oh you're not allowed to mention Stalin when you're renting out this quaint russian disco" when Stalin never even went to that disco let alone own it. Duh doi.
@Possibly Dell Honne it doesn't matter why the owners didn't want him to mention that. Pablo was a very bad person and did some terrible things for money. This guy ignored what the owners of the island want so it was there right to back out.
Fun fact: the picture at 6:36 was taken by my (at the time) 12-year-old brother and then sold to the NY Times. The story behind it is even funnier, as he didn't even realize it was Billy getting arrested when he took the picture; he was just a curious and impulsive kid who saw a guy get led away by the FBI and saw an opportunity. It wasn't until the first few articles about Billy's arrest came out that he realized who it was. ETA: I'm getting people doubting this story. If you search for the NY Times article 'Fyre Festival Organizer Pleads Not Guilty To Fraud Charges', you'll see my bro's name listed as the image credit.
This reads to me that a 12-year old attended a party particulairly for an adolescent audience. I sure hope you/them/they were on vacation there independently and bore witness to the disaster? Funny to think back about.
@Emma Benten I feel like that was at the very least a 5digit missed opportunity. But hey it's still cool that the little dude snapped the pic of that shit bag.
Imagine you're working at the American Embassy in the Bahamas and all of a sudden dozens of your countrymen show up who look like they've been human-trafficked there.
Lol, they had an airplane ride, sat in the sun for a day or two and slept rough for a night or two, not saying they weren't cheated of their money, but it wasn't some life or death shit
I helped organize a local metal concert with a few friends. Just local metal bands. Maybe 600 people attended. It took literally like 6 months of planning.
@Agente Polaris I mean you can strip any event, hobby or interest down to two verbs and it loses all interest lol. Obviously events like Tomorrowland, Defcon etc, there's more to it than "just music and booze", or else people wouldn't go. I enjoy playing piano, but you can boil it down to just pressing keys down in some rythmic fashion. I enjoy video games, but isn't that weird, it's just pressing buttons while staring at pixels on a screen. It's just not a very honest way of putting it, right? You go to these festivals because you genuinely enjoy the music, you may be a huge fan of *a* or *many* artists, you go there with your closer friends, you meet new people. During downtime you may check out the city it's being hosted in, try food or if the event itself has other things to do besides the different stages. It's also the atmosphere of a festival that's highly enticing, when huge crowd of people all become super positive, energetic and sociable, you have very different experiences and encounters with people that you otherwise just can't have. It's how we humans work, the emotions at a festival become very euphoric, the feeling of euphoria is a very rare and difficult feeling to consistently replicate. It's different from just being happy or having fun, it is a sensational experience. There's a reason why festivals of many kinds have existed in human culture for as long as we can record.
@Agente Polaris Id say depends on Price if its worth it. Here in about a month there is "Louder Than Life" here in Kentucky. about 24 very well known big named bands and about another 36 smaller ones. 4 days and the weekend pass is like 300$. Ive looked at INDIVIDUAL Concerts in the past and they are usually 120-200$ themselves. So getting an additional 59 bands for a 50% increase isnt bad. But yeah paying in excess of 1k, plus other expenses so lets say 5k with where this was at and all, to see what looked like maybe a dozen bands is stupidly overpriced.
@How to change name? I think he meant Big-brother levels of camera footage, catching all the juicy stuff. It's a whole other level from relying on what your experimental subjects upload themselves. At the very least, you lose everything that the social media sites censor.
For anyone who’s wondering about Billy. On October 11, 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in federal prison. McFarland is currently incarcerated at FCI Elkton, in Lisbon, Ohio.
@neighborhood music snob That is probably the dumbest sentence I’ve ever heard in my entire life. If there are no consequences for drugs what’s next? Welcome to the new millennium. Why don’t we just get rid of laws all together? I’m sure we would live in complete peace and harmony. Sarcasm level 10000%. Take care.
Billy McFarland: *defrauds ordinary people by selling tickets to a non-existent festival* The authorities: *sleeping soundly* Billy McFarland: *defrauds rich people by lying to investors* The authorities: *leap into action*
I was laughing my arse off with what his lawyers argued (and I can’t believe how light he got off!)... *McFarland’s legal team asked for leniency for their client, citing untreated bipolar disorder, which reportedly prevents him from knowing right from wrong.* 😂 Billy McFarland, the young, dumb founder of the ill-fated Fyre Festival, was sentenced today to six years in prison. “The remorse I feel is crushing,” McFarland said to a packed courtroom. “I lived every day with the weight of knowing that I literally destroyed the lives of my friends and family.” U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Buchwald wasn’t having it. “It is my conclusion based on all the submissions that the defendant is a serial fraudster and that to date his fraud like a circle has no ending,” she said, noting that she was taking into account McFarland’s long history of deception. In the end, Buchwald did offer some leniency. She had the option to go as high as 20 years for convictions on three counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and one count of lying to investigators, but, in the end, chose for his different sentences to be served concurrently. Instead, she allowed sentences for multiple counts of fraud to be served concurrently, meaning he got six years in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $26,182,386, though it’s unclear how much of that, if any, he currently has. He’ll have three years of supervised release once he’s finished his time, and will also have to forfeit over $26 million in order to pay back those individuals who were defrauded. That’s to go along with the $5 million civil suit he’s on the hook for.
This entire situation is made 10x worse by the fact that now Billy's out of prison he's decided that the best course of action is to do Fyre festival 2.0
What I like the most about Historians take on all of these stories is the somewhat grounded view of human behaviour and energy spent to uncover the truth. He goes time and time again out of his way to point out the opposite of what general lies and social narrative would have us believe. 1200$, all expenses paid for a a 2 week trip in the bahamas does sound like a great deal. Not all of the party goers were rich entitled brats. Alot of them were tricked by what appeared to be a great deal. Same for the cruise ship concordia. While he did have a giggle at the captain's expense, he
Maybe they hoped all the guests would pass out and then the staff could pretend that the guests just partied too hard and consequently forgot about the wild night before! xD
Everyone who showed up, heard that there was no food and no water, and drank the tequilla anyway. Start your life over. Your parents have failed. Someone needs to raise you all over again.
@Jack The Ripper maybe because i'm not as absorbed into a random youtube comment as you are 🤯🤯 crazy right? and i made my point perfectly idc if you don't think it is when i KNOW it is lol i took you off your high horse is all i care about feel free to reply more ramblings tho i won't read it seeing how it's "pointless" right? ahah✌️
I don’t like how you didn’t mention that ‘Fyre’ was supposed to be an app where you could book celebrity’s for a party or special occasion and ‘Fyre Festival’ was supposed to promote that app
@incognito That's what took me out of this statement. Who tf is that app for? People that want to pay Ja Rule $12,000 to show up to their kids birthday party?
Great video. Just wanted to point out that most of the dupes who bought tix for this scam saved for months to scratch together the $1,500 to spend on their annual vacations. They weren’t rich kids. In fact, rich kids would have ensured they had special accommodations and everything else they needed. This ripoff was aimed at average schmucks.
I think the price dropped because he was desperate for cash. Look forward to the next one. Years later, can't believe it's happening (or at least come back into the medias eyes). If it happens, look forward to Internet Historians take on it (funny aussie legend).
@Stanko Barabata yeah im a broke millennial with low critical thinking skills in need of a vacation that's literally why i made the comment lmao. I'm saying I can relate. Calm down.
Right??? I'm going to Italy for spring break (9 days) with a pretty much all-inclusive package (nothing like what Fyre Fest promised tho) and it costs over $3300
9:36 "How was the Fyre Festival?" I love how Kendall just ignores him, keeps walking, just zero acknowledgement, until the crowd starts laughing, THEN she laughs too. Like, oh, it's okay, no one's taking it seriously, there are no consequences, I can laugh at them and they'll think I'm laughing with them.
@Tony Joestar Did she do any research into the thing she was promoting or the people in charge? Did she offer to use that money to do some good for the regular people who were defrauded, even some who may have found out about it directly from her? The people defending her are insane.
You know, in hindsight, Fyre Festival could actually have been a great humanitarian awareness campaign. Instead of 2 weeks of promised luxury, you get 2 weeks to see what it's like to live as a refugee.
One small observation though: if the guests flew to another country and didn't take any cash with them in case something happened, well, that's kind on them too.
@kcototheyoyoyo Who keeps their money in bags they hand over to airport staff ? Unless you were flying from Hyperinflation Germany or Zimbabwe in the 2000s, you wouldn't need luggage for the express purpose of carrying your money around XD
Giving hungry people stuck ina very hot climate without water TEQUILA is a goddamn health hazard. The irresponsibility is just incredible, it's a miracle nobody died
I've watches this video a dozen times and only now have I noticed that at the end he made the raft out of the stolen luggage he talked about earlier 10:42 , amazing video.
I love how you portrait people as neither good or bad, we tend to judge people and criticize them for what they do, but everyone can make blunders... I respect your empathy and how you humanize naughty people, you internet dostoievsky
Details of the mismanagement of funds, the history of Magnises and bunch of other stuff will be coming soon in a follow-up Q&A on the second channel. I'll also keep you posted about whether Billy will be getting some cool new prison tatts or if Yes sends me a cease and desist or something. Second channel: kzclip.org/channel/UC8Q7XEy86Q7T-3kNpNjYgwA
An update as of May 6th at 5:30ish AM CDT: Billy went to jail on October 11th 2018 and is expected to serve a 6 year sentence, while inside he participated in a podcast interview and a bunch of other media coverage stuff which landed him in solitary, however on mid 2020 he requested to be realased due to Covid but was denied the same month, on July he was reported to have tested positive and his stay in solitary ended up being 6 months long and has since been transferred from Ohio to Oklahoma. Ja Rule for his part weaseled his way out of a 100mil lawsuit and subsequently made a song titled "Fyre" and went as well as you'd expect and he responded poorly to the criticism eventually pulling the "i was a victim too" card. As for the class action lawsuit, Fyre settled for paying about 7,000 back to 277 attendees but due to the festival still undergoing a bankruptcy case there's a possibility of that number going down. As for the people of Great Exuma, some of the local workers they hired last minute reportedly put up hits (yes, those types of hits) against Billy and Ja for not paying them
I had to watch a documentary episode on this for my Business Communications class and had to write a letter to people who had gotten scammed from the point of view of a financial advisor (I think). The hardest part was finding a formal and professional way to tell someone that they were stupid without saying they were stupid
this was basically dashcon but way more expensive and love that it proves that anyone is dumb enough to spend alot of money with next to no knowledge on what they are spending it on
The story of Fyre Festival is something I can just keep coming back and back to. It's like one of those experiments on the limits of human psychology: you could take the most atrocious war crime, the most cynical government cover-up, or the most blatant case of business corruption, and none of them would come close to explaining how otherwise intelligent and capable people can ride something down to disaster as Fyre Festival can.
My cousin went to Fyre festival and said it was the worst trip he'd ever been on. His luggage was stolen, which had most of his money. Luckily, he had enough money for a motel room and barely had enough to get home. To this day, he refuses to travel to the Bahamas, because of what happened.
Update: apparently Billy McFarland is writing a book about this disaster and amazingly planning another Fyre Festival after his prison sentence is over. I think he has fully gone insane while behind bars.
There’s no way he’d be able to get fyre festival 2 to happen with his reputation now in ruins, what place would allow someone who was released from federal prison for the disaster of their first festival set up there
Little tidbit, (and do feel free to fact check this) during his trial he was planning another massive scam like this, while he was being investigated...the dude's got some stones but the IQ of one too
@Arya07 All he had to do w/throw up a bandstand in the middle of a big field w/some great acts and a smattering of portapotties and half a million people would have shown up.
I love this comment thread. "But a celebrity supported this scam!" So what? Are famous people gods to you? Or are they humans who make dumb mistakes just like the rest of us?
I paid $500 (extra for early entry) for a music festival ticket+camping in 2016 and i'm still amazed by how much i enjoyed it. and that's just the ticket. didn't include the 3000 km trip. but...it was a festival that was going on for 19 years at that point, held on a farm in British columbia run by the owners of the property, not a brand new festival in another country run by a for profit company
I often imagine myself planning or doing something "big" for a large amount of people, like a party or a dinner (the biggest I ever did was 8 people). Even in my fantasies I start panicking immediately. Having mild ocd, being anal and meticulous I just want to be in control of everything, consider all eventualities, imagine myself being a guest, what would I do, eat, sleep and so on. I look at the rows of those shelter tents, and it's already clear that whoever planned it was simply a scammer who underestimated a fallout versus potential gains. He even sold fake tickets to burning man and Coachella while he was on bail, and before they jailed him 3 years ago. The real question is - was there any chance of figuring out it was a scam before it happened? $1200 for 2 weeks already sounds unrealistic, but I wonder If I was interested and browsing tickets - would I still buy it years ago? It kinda feels like I would.
Billy is currently in federal prison in Ohio. He filed for a "compassionate release" due to Covid but it was denied and he has since contracted Covid lmao.
@Stephen Jenkins “Time to die, …” noooo, what does the first retired replicant in Bladerunner say to Deckard when he tracks him down? is it “asshole”, “detective”, “piece of shit”? damn, well now I’ve got a reason to watch that film again - thanks Stephen!
So update time. Billy DID end up going to jail. He was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud in 2018, and sentenced to six years in federal prison. But on March 30, 2022, he was released early, having only spent about four years behind bars. He spent another few months in community confinement, but as of September 2022, he's fully a free man. He's recently been quoted saying that he's considering starting a new company. "Something tech-based." Keep in mind that Billy has a life-long ban on serving as the director of a public company. And he still owes ~$25 million in damages to his victims (his wages will be garnished until he pays it back. Which will probably be never). But he claims that he's going to pay it all back. Presumably with whatever get-rich-quick scheme he's cooking up. (SIDE BAR: After Fyre Festival went down, Billy started a company called NYC VIP and started selling tickets to all sorts of VIP events. Did Billy have the tickets? Of course not. The Oscars, the Met Gala, Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Master's Tournament, Hamilton, etc. You name it, he tried to sell it. Keep in mind, this is all while he was being investigated for fraud. He obviously got caught and charged, which possibly added to his prison sentence. But since he only got 6 years and served 4, maybe it didn't.)
I watched the Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix a few years back, fascinating story. That scam was just insane. Also, you are one of the best narrators on KZclip. Subscribed!
I read somewhere that the man who suggested partnering with a cruiseliner for transportation and accommodations was fired by Billy...which is ridiculous since that probably could have made this concert doable.
LOL I've been to the Exuma "international" airport before (on a regular vacation, not Fyre Festival). It's a TINY little building with a small restaurant across the street, a couple random shops... and that's it. It would be seriously sketchy to be stranded there after dark.
It wouldn't be sketchy because of any of the people there. I'm from the Bahamas and have family in Exuma and the average person would help a tourist as long as that tourist isn't being awful to them.
I think you should've mentioned they actually HAD leased Norman's Cay but were kicked out when they had advertised it as once owned by Pablo, something the owners strictly forbid. Also man, your video is linked on the Fyre Festival wikipedia.
Yes it was stupid mistake. Escobar estate (or Lehder) made it clear no reference to Escobar was to be made. Fyre immediately put it in marketing material. So the Escobar estate withdrew. Breach of contract.
God...imagine being surrounded by people who defer to *influencers* for that time. It would be like being stuck in a lift with Beavis and Buthead for 10 days.
It takes years to plan a festival but this genius tried setting this up in less than a year. Most musical acts that were promised that would be there, weren't even aware that they were "booked" for it anyways.
After first learning about this, and then other major scams, it didn't really surprise me about the fact that people bought into it. People will believe anything they read especially with "celebrity" endorsement
This is my 3rd or 4th rewatch of this and I keep catching little things. Like the superimposed ball pit on the ocean at 1:21 Oh man, I love you Internet Historian. I hope you go back to doing these awesome deep-dive mini documentaries soon!
This is a good example of the idea that all you need is vision and positive thinking to succeed in life is actually a recipe for disaster. Apparently hard work and honesty matter too.
I had a former coworker who worked at fyre festival, she enjoyed it because she only had to work for a few days, then she was allowed to just drink on the beach for a few days
I swear every time i watch one of these videos i wonder how dense these people are. They act like theres no planning involved when creating a festival and they can start one just because they have an idea
Dashcon, Tanacon, and FouseyTube's "Hate dies, love arrives" festival, which he put together in like 2 weeks, and had to call in a fake bomb threat to get it shut down quick and save some face.
Same with every other project, in my case is making a comic. They think they have a good idea/story that could be turned into a comic/manga. It is worse when all they offer is their "brilliant story" and don't even plan to pay the artist in the name of "exposure"
@daten But they fired everyone who told them it needs more time as they were labeled "negative" 😂 No they werent negative, they were the only ones with brains.
Are ya'll really trusting a documentary co-produced by the same marketing firm that marketed the actual festival itself? Sound a lot like damage control to me.
So is watching YT videos for reference illegal now? Keep in mind that the people behind the documentary probably put in a shit ton of work to arrange interviews, find/shoot footage, etc.
It's probably my 5th time watching this and I'm only realizing now that the most hilarious part of this is Billy McTitFace used a 1-day storm as an excuse as if that's strong enough to demolish all the beautiful buildings and infrastructures that they built. Storms are only strong winds and rain, not a fucking magnitude 8 earthquake. What a fucking joke.
What bugs me is that they could have sought investor backing, purchased a plot of land, built the resorts they wanted, then run Fyre as a seasonal event, and lease the place out to nearby resorts, or sell the place to recover their investment sooner after Fyre made it famous.
Once again: JUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IT BEFORE YOU TRY TO SELL IT. It's one thing to have an idea for an amazing festival which this sounded like it was going to be, but its completely different to actually organize a festival.
IH: "Please, let's have ONE failed festival that has a sequel!" 5 years later... and now he might just get his wish (assuming the world's biggest suckers decide to attend lol)
It’s unbelievable how far confidence and being unable to feel shame can get you. It always comes back to bite people like this on the ass, but it’s astounding they get that far to begin with…
Also while out on bail he was openly selling fraudulent VIP tickets to sports events and other festivals to try and raise emergency cash. It's in the Netflix documentary. Not the sharpest tool in the box, our Bill.
Every little Final Fantasy reference I see as I binge these videos for the first time makes me feel special for some reason. Like IH just understands me for some reason--somehow this channel went completely unnoticed for me this whole time--when I watched man in cave the other day I was just so deeply entertained, that I started crying, it's too hard to explain the sensation it gave me.
The best thing about this guy partying is that he basically was some dude who won the tickets and went there for free, he had no expectations and found the hordes of influencers and such totally miserable absolutely hilarious
We here to Party Lets Party
@Josh Piotrowski Whimmy wham wham wozzle!
@blood ghoulquite easy to save up 1200 if you aren't having to live paycheck to paycheck.
@Brain rich just like the video says, except for some influencers most people only paid a couple of hundred bucks each, not that expensive for a (supposedly) completely arranged 2 weeks holiday with food, shelter, entertainment booze etc. Doubt many of the people there were rich.
Bill was an idiot for losing Norman’s Cay, but imagine the same shitstorm happening except on a private island. No taxis, no neighboring resorts, no nearby help. Just you, a lost crowd, and FEMA tents on an isolated island.
@CaseyDevroe Yeah, no shit.
@CaseyDevroe But it is just a great concept, imagine it:
A luxury festival is advertised all over the place, celebrities and the media are in it. Tickets are advertised as high as $1 Million, but you can get an all expenses paid ticket for as low as $1000. There are going to be musicians, spas, EVERYTHING. So you buy a ticket with some friends and go. You fly to the Bahamas and go onto a boat with thousands of other people. Together you sail out to an unassuming island, where you spot… nothing actually. After arriving at the one and only port, which is broken down, you go up a dirt road to find FEMA tents. You have no cell reception, infrastructure, communication to the outside world. You’re stranded on a island with thousands of other people who are in the exact same situation as you are. Except there are some immediate classes: The guests, the staff, and whichever famous person didn’t get the memo to *NOT* show up. The guests rebel against the weak grasp of the staff, for they represented the company that brought them there. The celebrities flee for the hills or become unwilling god kings to the mob. Complete anarchy settles in as all semblance of law and order kneels before the needs of food, water, and shelter. Factions form among the guests, and you are there, forced to go along with the ride.
I would imagine that during this situation, the fictional company behind the festival would go into full damage control mode, denying everything occurring on the island and blocking every attempt at foreign aid. The news would probably begin the narrative of “they are all rich people”, which would be harder and harder to maintain with time. The Bahamian government and the UN would try to establish order, which would only bring more chaos. Also, I would imagine individuals from all over the world would flock to “join” the island (similar the Spanish Civil War, where Anarchists from all over the globe flocked to join the large scale Anarchist movement there), with motives ranging all across the board. Ranging from the innocent to the malevolent.
Though I doubt this would become an actual FarCry game, because Ubisoft would never greenlight this idea. That is because “Luxury Festival goes awry due to poor planning, guests establish lawless-commune on private island” is inherently anti-corporate. And Ubisoft doesn’t have the balls to produce something like that.
@Colton White you are not the first or last person to realize that
Sounds like the backdrop for a Farcry game.
It's worth mentioning that they did actually rent out Norman's Cay, but the owners expressly forbid them from mentioning Pablo Escobar, which Billy started doing almost immediately, causing the contract to be cancelled.
@MidlBrwn Actually it does matter. The original commenter said "The island owners forbid them from mentioning Pablo Escobar", but that doesn't make any sense because Escobar had _literally nothing to do with the island_
If you had read the thread before piping up you would have discovered that they apparently didn't say Escobar, but any cartel members.
That's like saying "Oh you're not allowed to mention Stalin when you're renting out this quaint russian disco" when Stalin never even went to that disco let alone own it. Duh doi.
@Possibly Dell Honne it doesn't matter why the owners didn't want him to mention that. Pablo was a very bad person and did some terrible things for money. This guy ignored what the owners of the island want so it was there right to back out.
@Andrew Parker nothing of value was lost then. Good riddance to people who make a living off tips from advertising properties.
Carlos Lehder owned it not Escobar.
Fun fact: the picture at 6:36 was taken by my (at the time) 12-year-old brother and then sold to the NY Times. The story behind it is even funnier, as he didn't even realize it was Billy getting arrested when he took the picture; he was just a curious and impulsive kid who saw a guy get led away by the FBI and saw an opportunity. It wasn't until the first few articles about Billy's arrest came out that he realized who it was.
ETA: I'm getting people doubting this story. If you search for the NY Times article 'Fyre Festival Organizer Pleads Not Guilty To Fraud Charges', you'll see my bro's name listed as the image credit.
This reads to me that a 12-year old attended a party particulairly for an adolescent audience. I sure hope you/them/they were on vacation there independently and bore witness to the disaster?
Funny to think back about.
@Emma Benten I feel like that was at the very least a 5digit missed opportunity. But hey it's still cool that the little dude snapped the pic of that shit bag.
The story is real, Liam Benten took the photo. Pretty cool. How much money did they pay for the photo?
@Patrick Not-Star definitely "not star" since even the real Patrick Star wouldn't FUCKED UP THAT BADLY
@saint nic cagesomeone liking video games on an internet historian video?
Imagine you're working at the American Embassy in the Bahamas and all of a sudden dozens of your countrymen show up who look like they've been human-trafficked there.
I'm pretty sure they expected it
Lol, they had an airplane ride, sat in the sun for a day or two and slept rough for a night or two, not saying they weren't cheated of their money, but it wasn't some life or death shit
@The Dragonborn 9
@Ayy Lmao they self-trafficked themselves there
I helped organize a local metal concert with a few friends. Just local metal bands. Maybe 600 people attended. It took literally like 6 months of planning.
Organisation done right, friend. I hope everything went smoothly and everyone had a ton of fun! ❤️
Dude that's awesome. Keep up the grind
How was it? Thats also a lot of work, good for you man!
You sound like a good budding entrepreneur. Keep at it buddy.
I like how paying Kendall Jenner to tweet about it cost more than the festival.
@Agente Polaris I mean you can strip any event, hobby or interest down to two verbs and it loses all interest lol. Obviously events like Tomorrowland, Defcon etc, there's more to it than "just music and booze", or else people wouldn't go. I enjoy playing piano, but you can boil it down to just pressing keys down in some rythmic fashion. I enjoy video games, but isn't that weird, it's just pressing buttons while staring at pixels on a screen. It's just not a very honest way of putting it, right?
You go to these festivals because you genuinely enjoy the music, you may be a huge fan of *a* or *many* artists, you go there with your closer friends, you meet new people. During downtime you may check out the city it's being hosted in, try food or if the event itself has other things to do besides the different stages. It's also the atmosphere of a festival that's highly enticing, when huge crowd of people all become super positive, energetic and sociable, you have very different experiences and encounters with people that you otherwise just can't have. It's how we humans work, the emotions at a festival become very euphoric, the feeling of euphoria is a very rare and difficult feeling to consistently replicate. It's different from just being happy or having fun, it is a sensational experience. There's a reason why festivals of many kinds have existed in human culture for as long as we can record.
Lol they probably could've asked her nicely maybe take her out for a drink, wouldn't costed nothing
@Agente Polaris Id say depends on Price if its worth it. Here in about a month there is "Louder Than Life" here in Kentucky. about 24 very well known big named bands and about another 36 smaller ones. 4 days and the weekend pass is like 300$. Ive looked at INDIVIDUAL Concerts in the past and they are usually 120-200$ themselves. So getting an additional 59 bands for a 50% increase isnt bad.
But yeah paying in excess of 1k, plus other expenses so lets say 5k with where this was at and all, to see what looked like maybe a dozen bands is stupidly overpriced.
Hullo, I am Nigerian Prince.
@Alejandro Reyes did u not watch the video? tickets went for 500-1200 dollars
This could have made a fortune...if they had cameras everything and turned it into a reality show.
could’ve partnered up with CN to make Total Drama Live Action
The people taking part in setting this up filmed the behind the scenes and made a documentary about it
@Insensitive Right.... you can't DO that kind of thing. A total bait and switch and record it for profit? dear god the layers of lawsuits.
@How to change name? I think he meant Big-brother levels of camera footage, catching all the juicy stuff. It's a whole other level from relying on what your experimental subjects upload themselves. At the very least, you lose everything that the social media sites censor.
That... might have turned it into "kidnapping" and more. It shows intent.
Part of what makes this series so good is that he’s not screaming or freakin out. His calm demeanor makes the crimes somehow so much worse.
He's not mad
Just disappointed
The fact this poor man is afflicted by all these setbacks & disasters yet reports on them so calmly he is the salt of the earth.
Sounds more like someone who has just accepted their sad fate and is just waiting for the end
He reminds me of David Attenborough, but rather than making observations about animals, he makes observations about humans doing dumb shit.
Plus, he drowned in the making of this video. Very sad ending.
I like to imagine some journalist heard the term, “12 hundred dollars” and thought it meant 12,000
Blame the Americans for using 12 as a slang cause they were too lazy so they got mixed up between 1,200 instead of 12 thousands
@SpoilerAlert all toasters toast toast
I revisit this video every few months to remind myself no matter how badly I fail at least I didn’t create Fire Festival.
Judge not yourself by the failure of others, that's a slippery slope towards massive self degradation.
I think furry convention was way worse tbh.
🤣
I revisit to laugh, I am so sick and tired of entitled "influencers" think they get shit for free, they deserved it
I love how Billy's wiki was changed from 'entrepreneur' to 'fraudster' xD
ACCURACY is important c:
Nah, I'm sure we can do better.
How about "Honest Tent Salesman" or "Master Troll"?
Hahah.
For anyone who’s wondering about Billy.
On October 11, 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in federal prison. McFarland is currently incarcerated at FCI Elkton, in Lisbon, Ohio.
@neighborhood music snob That is probably the dumbest sentence I’ve ever heard in my entire life.
If there are no consequences for drugs what’s next? Welcome to the new millennium. Why don’t we just get rid of laws all together? I’m sure we would live in complete peace and harmony. Sarcasm level 10000%.
Take care.
@Atomic renegade He had well paid legal representation. It’s not about what happened. It’s about what you can prove in court.
@Neighborhood Music Snob Nobody is in jail for decades because of weed lmao, not even in red states.
Not Ohio bruh
so next year he's gonna be released? nah fuck that put him back in, ion want "fyre festival 2025"
Billy McFarland: *defrauds ordinary people by selling tickets to a non-existent festival*
The authorities: *sleeping soundly*
Billy McFarland: *defrauds rich people by lying to investors*
The authorities: *leap into action*
Rich people can afford lawyers. Color me shocked.
@Jonathon Cowley-Thom He was arrested for wire fraud which covers investors and those who bought tickets, genius.
@Stephen Jenkins He was prosecuted and convicted for misleading investors.
Yup, Billy's behind bars. He asked to leave prison to avoid TheVarus. They denied his request and ended up joining forces with TheVarus.
@Dani E The one you made? Looks like fives words, give or take.
He has been released from prison since March 2022
@Dani E
I just posted a write up about it - 6 years.
I was laughing my arse off with what his lawyers argued (and I can’t believe how light he got off!)...
*McFarland’s legal team asked for leniency for their client, citing untreated bipolar disorder, which reportedly prevents him from knowing right from wrong.* 😂
Billy McFarland, the young, dumb founder of the ill-fated Fyre Festival, was sentenced today to six years in prison.
“The remorse I feel is crushing,” McFarland said to a packed courtroom. “I lived every day with the weight of knowing that I literally destroyed the lives of my friends and family.”
U.S. District Court Judge Naomi Buchwald wasn’t having it. “It is my conclusion based on all the submissions that the defendant is a serial fraudster and that to date his fraud like a circle has no ending,” she said, noting that she was taking into account McFarland’s long history of deception.
In the end, Buchwald did offer some leniency. She had the option to go as high as 20 years for convictions on three counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and one count of lying to investigators, but, in the end, chose for his different sentences to be served concurrently.
Instead, she allowed sentences for multiple counts of fraud to be served concurrently, meaning he got six years in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to forfeit $26,182,386, though it’s unclear how much of that, if any, he currently has.
He’ll have three years of supervised release once he’s finished his time, and will also have to forfeit over $26 million in order to pay back those individuals who were defrauded. That’s to go along with the $5 million civil suit he’s on the hook for.
This entire situation is made 10x worse by the fact that now Billy's out of prison he's decided that the best course of action is to do Fyre festival 2.0
OOOOHHH NNNNNOOOOOOO
*In a prison somewhere*
Prisoner: I robbed a bank. Why are you here?
Billy: well you see
@R N Ja Rule: * outside the jail * I did nothing! Ah, and the NFTs from the trademark gave me lots of money!
@ᏴᎬᏞᏙᎪ I did everything correct
And then the prisoner puts Billy's head through a wall.
Well you see I bamboozled thousands of people
What I like the most about Historians take on all of these stories is the somewhat grounded view of human behaviour and energy spent to uncover the truth. He goes time and time again out of his way to point out the opposite of what general lies and social narrative would have us believe. 1200$, all expenses paid for a a 2 week trip in the bahamas does sound like a great deal. Not all of the party goers were rich entitled brats. Alot of them were tricked by what appeared to be a great deal. Same for the cruise ship concordia. While he did have a giggle at the captain's expense, he
👯👯👯👯👯👯👯👯
Bernie and Biden Supporters.
“With no food, they started giving out free tequila”
That... that is a very short term solution to that problem
So you're saying... it's still a solution?
Chemically speaking, booze IS a solution.
Maybe they hoped all the guests would pass out and then the staff could pretend that the guests just partied too hard and consequently forgot about the wild night before! xD
Everyone who showed up, heard that there was no food and no water, and drank the tequilla anyway. Start your life over. Your parents have failed. Someone needs to raise you all over again.
> no food
> free tequila
Oh boy that sure sounds like a great idea
sure! if you don't have a life to take care of, it surely sounds like a blast 😀
@High Definition
The stomach acid and dry bile: *Insert laughing black man meme.*
@Jack The Ripper maybe because i'm not as absorbed into a random youtube comment as you are 🤯🤯 crazy right? and i made my point perfectly idc if you don't think it is when i KNOW it is lol i took you off your high horse is all i care about feel free to reply more ramblings tho i won't read it seeing how it's "pointless" right? ahah✌️
I don’t like how you didn’t mention that ‘Fyre’ was supposed to be an app where you could book celebrity’s for a party or special occasion and ‘Fyre Festival’ was supposed to promote that app
God why none told us, we could hire Major Lazer and Blink 183 for the festival
I learned that from another video about this.
And basically, couldn't they have found ANOTHER way to promote said app?
A simple concert maybe?
That doesn’t sound like it would work out either way
@incognito That's what took me out of this statement. Who tf is that app for? People that want to pay Ja Rule $12,000 to show up to their kids birthday party?
Rich people do book celebs all the time for parties but I dont think that level of rich needs an app they have connections
"I truly apologize as this is not my fault" - Ja Rule, poet and intellectual
Real "I am so sorry you feel that way." vibes
“I truly apologize as this is not my fault” - Ja Shakespeare
Great video. Just wanted to point out that most of the dupes who bought tix for this scam saved for months to scratch together the $1,500 to spend on their annual vacations. They weren’t rich kids. In fact, rich kids would have ensured they had special accommodations and everything else they needed. This ripoff was aimed at average schmucks.
Billy just got out of jail and immediately announced another fyre festival
$500 with EVERYTHING included on a private island for 2 weeks?!?! That sounds like an excerpt from a Nigerian prince scam.
Or a Mr Beast video.
I think the price dropped because he was desperate for cash. Look forward to the next one. Years later, can't believe it's happening (or at least come back into the medias eyes). If it happens, look forward to Internet Historians take on it (funny aussie legend).
@Stanko Barabata yeah im a broke millennial with low critical thinking skills in need of a vacation that's literally why i made the comment lmao. I'm saying I can relate. Calm down.
Right??? I'm going to Italy for spring break (9 days) with a pretty much all-inclusive package (nothing like what Fyre Fest promised tho) and it costs over $3300
9:36 "How was the Fyre Festival?"
I love how Kendall just ignores him, keeps walking, just zero acknowledgement, until the crowd starts laughing, THEN she laughs too. Like, oh, it's okay, no one's taking it seriously, there are no consequences, I can laugh at them and they'll think I'm laughing with them.
@The Raven the Fyre staff did her promotional work so early she didn't have anything to research
@Tony Joestar Did she do any research into the thing she was promoting or the people in charge? Did she offer to use that money to do some good for the regular people who were defrauded, even some who may have found out about it directly from her?
The people defending her are insane.
Thats what happens when you never had to work a day in your life and just being alive makes you a billionaire. Completely detatched from real life.
She didn't know it was gonna a FEMA nightmare
She did speak, she said " I don't know, I didn't go"
This seems like the start of a Far Cry game
So you’re saying McFarland was Vaas?
Ow ahahaha you havebt seen woodstock 99 that was apocolipse now
Far cry 7
Getting left behind is literally the tutorial lol
what about the raft🤣🤣
You know, in hindsight, Fyre Festival could actually have been a great humanitarian awareness campaign. Instead of 2 weeks of promised luxury, you get 2 weeks to see what it's like to live as a refugee.
@Proles just sped the process of dehydration up.
Refugees get free tequila on arrival to the FEMA camps?
FEMA tents, food that you don’t know is even safe to eat, poor conditions
Yeah that’s a pretty good comparison
One small observation though: if the guests flew to another country and didn't take any cash with them in case something happened, well, that's kind on them too.
@kcototheyoyoyo Who keeps their money in bags they hand over to airport staff ? Unless you were flying from Hyperinflation Germany or Zimbabwe in the 2000s, you wouldn't need luggage for the express purpose of carrying your money around XD
Unless it’s in there stolen bags
@DrawciaGleam02 VAAS
@DrawciaGleam02 the locals/organizers
@Rick H
This incident makes me wary of going to a private island.
Because if something went wrong, how will I get help/medical attention?
Another example of how completely worthless influencer actually are.
They are fun to look at but not much else.
Giving hungry people stuck ina very hot climate without water TEQUILA is a goddamn health hazard. The irresponsibility is just incredible, it's a miracle nobody died
@jetomart yes 😎
@Señor Dós bro this thread is 2 years old
@TheAkwarium just stopping by to laugh at you for thinking 2 5% beers =10% lmaooo
Mum still making you wear a helmet I see.
I wish I could be as carefree as you, Mr Blue Trunks; everything around you going to shit and you’re still finding a way to party
@SadieCat lol
If I'm not mistaken, that was the dude who won a free ticket to fyre and was celebrating all the rich people in pain
Drugs... many drugs
@Austin Coker But they apparently take copious amounts of drugs, though.
I've watches this video a dozen times and only now have I noticed that at the end he made the raft out of the stolen luggage he talked about earlier 10:42 , amazing video.
He’s recently been released and is currently planning another festival. This guy just doesn’t know when to quit
"People are reaching out to the embassy for help"
My sides don't exist anymore due to the extreme friction of immense laughter.
Good plan, but can you imagine the embassy? "Why are there a bunch of teenagers screaming outside?"
Ha
I love how you portrait people as neither good or bad, we tend to judge people and criticize them for what they do, but everyone can make blunders... I respect your empathy and how you humanize naughty people, you internet dostoievsky
Details of the mismanagement of funds, the history of Magnises and bunch of other stuff will be coming soon in a follow-up Q&A on the second channel. I'll also keep you posted about whether Billy will be getting some cool new prison tatts or if Yes sends me a cease and desist or something.
Second channel: kzclip.org/channel/UC8Q7XEy86Q7T-3kNpNjYgwA
Hey Boss! What's the name of the soundtrack that plays after 1:06?? It's awesome
Internet Historian link doesn't work
Hey I was wondering, are you going to cover season 7 of HWNDU? Or do you think that this whole situation has exhausted its comedic potential?
Internet Historian
Do las Pegasus unicon 2013
An update as of May 6th at 5:30ish AM CDT:
Billy went to jail on October 11th 2018 and is expected to serve a 6 year sentence, while inside he participated in a podcast interview and a bunch of other media coverage stuff which landed him in solitary, however on mid 2020 he requested to be realased due to Covid but was denied the same month, on July he was reported to have tested positive and his stay in solitary ended up being 6 months long and has since been transferred from Ohio to Oklahoma.
Ja Rule for his part weaseled his way out of a 100mil lawsuit and subsequently made a song titled "Fyre" and went as well as you'd expect and he responded poorly to the criticism eventually pulling the "i was a victim too" card.
As for the class action lawsuit, Fyre settled for paying about 7,000 back to 277 attendees but due to the festival still undergoing a bankruptcy case there's a possibility of that number going down.
As for the people of Great Exuma, some of the local workers they hired last minute reportedly put up hits (yes, those types of hits) against Billy and Ja for not paying them
It’s so kind that Internet Historian would stay behind in order to rescue that stranded frisbee!
In an alternate universe, Fyre Festival was everything it advertised and it truly was the best 2 weeks of some people's lives
I had to watch a documentary episode on this for my Business Communications class and had to write a letter to people who had gotten scammed from the point of view of a financial advisor (I think). The hardest part was finding a formal and professional way to tell someone that they were stupid without saying they were stupid
You may be thrilled or disappointed to hear Billy tried to start another event called Pyrate
my favorite part of the whole fyre festival mess was the photo that had the dashcon ball pit photoshopped into it
JUMP IN THE PIT!
🤣
this was basically dashcon but way more expensive and love that it proves that anyone is dumb enough to spend alot of money with next to no knowledge on what they are spending it on
@DiscoTimelord *
The story of Fyre Festival is something I can just keep coming back and back to. It's like one of those experiments on the limits of human psychology: you could take the most atrocious war crime, the most cynical government cover-up, or the most blatant case of business corruption, and none of them would come close to explaining how otherwise intelligent and capable people can ride something down to disaster as Fyre Festival can.
IH IT HAPPENED! A Failed Festival with a sequel is finally in the works!!! Billy's back at it again! 🤣
My cousin went to Fyre festival and said it was the worst trip he'd ever been on. His luggage was stolen, which had most of his money. Luckily, he had enough money for a motel room and barely had enough to get home. To this day, he refuses to travel to the Bahamas, because of what happened.
Post Traumatic Fyre Festival
Who the hell packs thier money in a suitcase they check in?? Did he also have his Mensa membership card stolen?
Looks like we have a fyre festival part 2 after all guys!!
LOOKS LIKE A FYRE FESTIVAL IS BACK ON THE MENU BOYS!
Update: apparently Billy McFarland is writing a book about this disaster and amazingly planning another Fyre Festival after his prison sentence is over. I think he has fully gone insane while behind bars.
I'm tempted to actually attend incognito and be point blank on the action
There’s no way he’d be able to get fyre festival 2 to happen with his reputation now in ruins, what place would allow someone who was released from federal prison for the disaster of their first festival set up there
i’d definitely be interested in that book
Little tidbit, (and do feel free to fact check this) during his trial he was planning another massive scam like this, while he was being investigated...the dude's got some stones but the IQ of one too
@Arya07 All he had to do w/throw up a bandstand in the middle of a big field w/some great acts and a smattering of portapotties and half a million people would have shown up.
I love how you can tell when this video was made because he had to explain what an influencer is
Prepare for the sequel y'all, Mcfarland is back at it again with the Fyrefest sequel being called "Pirate" this time.
And Billy is right back at it again after getting out of jail.
The funniest thing is that Billy is now out of prison & seeking to do another Fyre Festival, except now its called Pirate
Holy shit internet historian was right again, there is a sequel
These people who think $500 will bring them THAT much pleasure is the same people who fell for "hot singles in your area"
@WeOutHere You didn't watch the video, did your?
He talks about the price. Some tickets were as low as $500. Most people paid $1,250.
😂😂😂
I love this comment thread. "But a celebrity supported this scam!" So what? Are famous people gods to you? Or are they humans who make dumb mistakes just like the rest of us?
I paid $500 (extra for early entry) for a music festival ticket+camping in 2016 and i'm still amazed by how much i enjoyed it. and that's just the ticket. didn't include the 3000 km trip.
but...it was a festival that was going on for 19 years at that point, held on a farm in British columbia run by the owners of the property, not a brand new festival in another country run by a for profit company
@Romantic Hippie of course not!!!
I often imagine myself planning or doing something "big" for a large amount of people, like a party or a dinner (the biggest I ever did was 8 people). Even in my fantasies I start panicking immediately. Having mild ocd, being anal and meticulous I just want to be in control of everything, consider all eventualities, imagine myself being a guest, what would I do, eat, sleep and so on. I look at the rows of those shelter tents, and it's already clear that whoever planned it was simply a scammer who underestimated a fallout versus potential gains. He even sold fake tickets to burning man and Coachella while he was on bail, and before they jailed him 3 years ago.
The real question is - was there any chance of figuring out it was a scam before it happened? $1200 for 2 weeks already sounds unrealistic, but I wonder If I was interested and browsing tickets - would I still buy it years ago? It kinda feels like I would.
It's people like you that we need to organize these kinds of events.
Excited for part two!!!
Guys get ready for Billy’s second attempt: Pirate festival 2023 confirmed. Dudes out of prison and back on his bullshit.
DASHCon 2021 is officially happening!! Spread the word guys, you KNOW it's gonna be memey as FUCK!!!
@dvm2048 its full blown 2022 and nothing.
It’s almost the end of the year, and I never heard any news about Dashcon 2021.
wake me up when it actually happens
@Ekki I only tell the truth here my boy.
@Irish Pizza It's a convention. Of course there will be cringy forced jokes.
5 years later and he’s doing it again
came back because of this, it's ludicrous
Billy is currently in federal prison in Ohio. He filed for a "compassionate release" due to Covid but it was denied and he has since contracted Covid lmao.
Oh no he got a bad cold.
And he has been released
@Unenthusiast Huh???
@Stephen Jenkins “Time to die, …”
noooo, what does the first retired replicant in Bladerunner say to Deckard when he tracks him down? is it “asshole”, “detective”, “piece of shit”?
damn, well now I’ve got a reason to watch that film again - thanks Stephen!
@Unenthusiast Huh?
So update time. Billy DID end up going to jail. He was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud in 2018, and sentenced to six years in federal prison. But on March 30, 2022, he was released early, having only spent about four years behind bars. He spent another few months in community confinement, but as of September 2022, he's fully a free man. He's recently been quoted saying that he's considering starting a new company. "Something tech-based." Keep in mind that Billy has a life-long ban on serving as the director of a public company. And he still owes ~$25 million in damages to his victims (his wages will be garnished until he pays it back. Which will probably be never). But he claims that he's going to pay it all back. Presumably with whatever get-rich-quick scheme he's cooking up.
(SIDE BAR: After Fyre Festival went down, Billy started a company called NYC VIP and started selling tickets to all sorts of VIP events. Did Billy have the tickets? Of course not. The Oscars, the Met Gala, Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Master's Tournament, Hamilton, etc. You name it, he tried to sell it. Keep in mind, this is all while he was being investigated for fraud. He obviously got caught and charged, which possibly added to his prison sentence. But since he only got 6 years and served 4, maybe it didn't.)
I've watched this like 10 times and it never gets old.
Channel got me missing quarintine
I watched the Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix a few years back, fascinating story. That scam was just insane. Also, you are one of the best narrators on KZclip. Subscribed!
"Over drinks, Billy pitched an idea..."
That's the first mistake of many...
Doing so at chili’s at 4 in the morning was the second.
I read somewhere that the man who suggested partnering with a cruiseliner for transportation and accommodations was fired by Billy...which is ridiculous since that probably could have made this concert doable.
Ja Rule: "I truly apologize because this is NOT MY FAULT."
You can't argue with logic like that.
To be completely fair he wasn't as involved as Billy and probably regrets even letting Billy try this train wreck.
@Mis-ter Solitude 🤓
@Scipio Africanus And to think, this wouldn't have happened if he just didn't mention Hailey Freaking Mathers!
@Mis-ter Solitude That was a fake tweet.
No to overstate the obvious, but why would anyone just buy into a line of bullshit and zero proof of anything...?
Word has it, Billy’s trying to do it again.
Now that the guy is out of prison and is currently trying to do the same thing again in order to pay his massive debt, Im looking forward to part 2.
I want to see the creators of Fyre, Dash con, and Rainfurrest create an event together
What would they call it :)
So excited for the sequel.
LOL I've been to the Exuma "international" airport before (on a regular vacation, not Fyre Festival). It's a TINY little building with a small restaurant across the street, a couple random shops... and that's it. It would be seriously sketchy to be stranded there after dark.
It wouldn't be sketchy because of any of the people there. I'm from the Bahamas and have family in Exuma and the average person would help a tourist as long as that tourist isn't being awful to them.
I think you should've mentioned they actually HAD leased Norman's Cay but were kicked out when they had advertised it as once owned by Pablo, something the owners strictly forbid.
Also man, your video is linked on the Fyre Festival wikipedia.
Pablo never owned Norman's Cay!
Carlos Ledher did but he's a different person altogether
Which is actually a good thing because Norman’s Cay had no infrastructure at all.
His channel isn't "Internet Historian" for nothing. He even has the most popular living meme ever as profile image.
Probably a blessing since Norman's Cay don't have basic sanitary infrastructure and full of mosquitoes
Yes it was stupid mistake. Escobar estate (or Lehder) made it clear no reference to Escobar was to be made. Fyre immediately put it in marketing material. So the Escobar estate withdrew. Breach of contract.
God...imagine being surrounded by people who defer to *influencers* for that time. It would be like being stuck in a lift with Beavis and Buthead for 10 days.
Honestly, it’d probably have been worse if it was on an actual private island.
it would’ve been hilarious how bad it would be
It takes years to plan a festival but this genius tried setting this up in less than a year. Most musical acts that were promised that would be there, weren't even aware that they were "booked" for it anyways.
My English teacher gave us a reading exam about fyre festival. Thanks to your video I could fill in all the answers. Thanks a lot bro :)
I can’t wait for Internet Historian to cover Fyre Festival 2: Electric Boogaloo
I almost can't believe this actually happened..seems like an alternate universe or something
After first learning about this, and then other major scams, it didn't really surprise me about the fact that people bought into it. People will believe anything they read especially with "celebrity" endorsement
True and same
@Phoebe5448 The gimmick is that it makes people dissappointed
We are they alternate universe
@Phoebe5448 "Also sounds like an SCP"
My fucking sides....
This is my 3rd or 4th rewatch of this and I keep catching little things. Like the superimposed ball pit on the ocean at 1:21 Oh man, I love you Internet Historian. I hope you go back to doing these awesome deep-dive mini documentaries soon!
This is a good example of the idea that all you need is vision and positive thinking to succeed in life is actually a recipe for disaster. Apparently hard work and honesty matter too.
Time for round two, Mister Historian.
I had a former coworker who worked at fyre festival, she enjoyed it because she only had to work for a few days, then she was allowed to just drink on the beach for a few days
I guess we are getting a sequel afterall
I swear every time i watch one of these videos i wonder how dense these people are. They act like theres no planning involved when creating a festival and they can start one just because they have an idea
Dashcon, Tanacon, and FouseyTube's "Hate dies, love arrives" festival, which he put together in like 2 weeks, and had to call in a fake bomb threat to get it shut down quick and save some face.
Same with every other project, in my case is making a comic. They think they have a good idea/story that could be turned into a comic/manga. It is worse when all they offer is their "brilliant story" and don't even plan to pay the artist in the name of "exposure"
@daten But they fired everyone who told them it needs more time as they were labeled "negative" 😂
No they werent negative, they were the only ones with brains.
they were planning but they just weren’t ready and needed more time but that guy wanted it to start asap
Fuck yeah, who's ready for PYRT? Old Billy boy is back at it again
This is still the best documentary on Fyre Festival ever created
Internet Historian, wake up! Ya boy Billy is back!!
What a disastrous event! But what a wonderful video!
That Ja Rule gibberish from the start (0:46) is still god-tier. Love hearing it whenever I rewatch the video
Who needs Netflix when Internet Historian has got you covered in just 11 minutes?
Are ya'll really trusting a documentary co-produced by the same marketing firm that marketed the actual festival itself?
Sound a lot like damage control to me.
Because people needs lots of time about something they could care less.
So is watching YT videos for reference illegal now? Keep in mind that the people behind the documentary probably put in a shit ton of work to arrange interviews, find/shoot footage, etc.
Netflix ripped this off basically, you know damn well they watched and took notes
Yeah.. the Netflix documentary is leagues better. This was a good summary but you can’t compare a KZclip video to a fully funded documentary.
It's probably my 5th time watching this and I'm only realizing now that the most hilarious part of this is Billy McTitFace used a 1-day storm as an excuse as if that's strong enough to demolish all the beautiful buildings and infrastructures that they built.
Storms are only strong winds and rain, not a fucking magnitude 8 earthquake. What a fucking joke.
What bugs me is that they could have sought investor backing, purchased a plot of land, built the resorts they wanted, then run Fyre as a seasonal event, and lease the place out to nearby resorts, or sell the place to recover their investment sooner after Fyre made it famous.
Once again: JUST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IT BEFORE YOU TRY TO SELL IT. It's one thing to have an idea for an amazing festival which this sounded like it was going to be, but its completely different to actually organize a festival.
IH: "Please, let's have ONE failed festival that has a sequel!"
5 years later... and now he might just get his wish (assuming the world's biggest suckers decide to attend lol)
I could never figure out who the hell was gonna pay ANY amount of money to hear Ja Rule grunt into a mic for 45 minutes in 2017
Awesome story and Netflix did a good job of turning into a good documentary
For those wondering, ya boi billy got to jail cause his smart ass decide to scam his former employee just right after he got bail out.
you don't become a millionaire while young by doing legal stuff
@babysealsareyummy really makes one reflect on what our society truly prioritizes in what values we as individuals uphold for ourselves
It’s unbelievable how far confidence and being unable to feel shame can get you. It always comes back to bite people like this on the ass, but it’s astounding they get that far to begin with…
Also while out on bail he was openly selling fraudulent VIP tickets to sports events and other festivals to try and raise emergency cash. It's in the Netflix documentary. Not the sharpest tool in the box, our Bill.
... welp. I don’t usually say people deserve to go to jail or prison buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...
Can't wait for Internet Historian's rundown on PYRT festival!
I absolutely love Internet Historian's voice. I feel like I'm having a story read to me even when he's talking about events that took place.
Every little Final Fantasy reference I see as I binge these videos for the first time makes me feel special for some reason. Like IH just understands me for some reason--somehow this channel went completely unnoticed for me this whole time--when I watched man in cave the other day I was just so deeply entertained, that I started crying, it's too hard to explain the sensation it gave me.