January 2019. The beginning of a yet another new year, and also the month where not one, but two documentaries about the failed Fyre Festival appeared on both Hulu and Netflix. In case you need a refresher, Fyre Festival was the epic sham of a "luxury music festival" that was supposed to rival Coachella and take place on what was once Pablo Escobar's private island in the Bahamas back in the spring of 2017. Rapper Ja Rule was also one of the cofounders, along with elite scam artist Billy McFarland. Guests arrived expecting luxury villas, celebrity parties, and performances from high profile artists such as Blink 182, and instead landed on the island of Great Exuma only to be greeted by a festival site that was reminiscent of a scene you'd find in Lord of the Flies.
I highly recommend watching both documentaries, as I was equally awe struck and amazed by each one, and each offers varying takes on the entire debacle that was Fyre Festival. Netflix's version offers a more behind the scenes look into the inner workings of the festival, complete with interviews from many of Fyre's former employees along with recounts from Marc Weinstein, who shared his personal emails he received and sent while working as a consultant for the festival. Hulu's version, in my opinion, is riveting due to the fact that it takes an in depth look at influencer culture, and how the power of influence led to hundreds of millennials, along with seasoned industry professionals to believe in the festival that, quite frankly wasn't. After watching both documentaries in the span of a few days, I've had a chance to fully digest my thoughts on the Fyre madness. Warning: spoiler alerts ahead.
Billy McFarland is the ultimate scammer.
I have so many thoughts about Billy. How a guy who admittedly spelled the name of one of his first business ventures wrong convinced investors to hand over $27.4 million dollars to fund his pipe dream of a luxury festival is beyond me. Also, who continues to commit scams while out on bail? Mind boggling.
Influencer culture will convince us to do literally anything.
Just in case you may have doubted it before, the power of the influencer is very real. The initial buzz about the festival began when influencers across social media simultaneously posted an orange square with the hashtag #FyreFest, and only grew from there. The group of influencers tapped for the initial posts included the likes of Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Baldwin just to name a few. While these influencers were paid handsomely for their social media posts, they weren't fully transparent about their paid participation to promote the festival. You can blame that lack of transparency for the FTC starting to become more aggressive in enforcing disclosures from influences when they're being paid to promote a product, event, or brand. Hint, this is why you've started to see #ad, along with paid partnership disclosures on your Instagram feeds more frequently.
The impact of the Fyre failure on the local Bahamians is heartbreaking.
Hundreds of workers went unpaid, and the interview segments with local restaurant owner, MaryAnne Rolle are especially emotional. At least one sad story here has a happy ending, as the GoFundMe account that was set up to help Rolle recoup the life savings she lost in the Fyre debacle has been able to surpass it's goal by over $50k.
Just how far will someone go to get Evian water released from customs?
Hint, it involves activities and a conversation that's definitely not safe for work.
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I'd love to know - have you watched either documentary yet, and if so what were your thoughts? Photo by Fezbot2000 on Unsplash
