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Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: BTH7117 on April 28, 2017, 11:36:15 AM

Title: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: BTH7117 on April 28, 2017, 11:36:15 AM
I'm having a hard time not enjoying this:

"Those who shelled out up to $12,780 for the luxury weekend in the Exumas found themselves Thursday treated to mass disorganization, half-built tents, feral dogs, and catered food that was little more than limp cheese sandwiches." - via CNN. (http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/28/entertainment/fyre-festival-disaster-trnd/)

Admittedly, I never heard of this event until it descended into chaos, but it's being written up as an event that existed mostly to take pictures for attendee's social media accounts (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/28/arts/music/fyre-festival-ja-rule-bahamas.html).

Oh, and the organizer is the founder of some "elite Millennial targeted" credit card (https://news.vice.com/story/rich-millennials-paid-thousands-for-ja-rules-fyre-fest-and-are-now-stranded-on-an-island-in-disaster-relief-tents) that didn't actually deliver any benefits (http://www.businessinsider.com/magnises-complaints-from-members-2017-1) despite a $250 fee.

Happy Friday, everyone.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: caffeine on April 28, 2017, 11:42:07 AM
I heard Ja Rule was an event organizer, and they had an unlimited $500 flight and festival entry early bird special. They lost money on every early bird offering.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: onehair on April 28, 2017, 12:49:21 PM
Normally I have all the sympathy in the world for people caught up in bad travel or vacation situations....Not this group!!! Every time I read that story I cackle like the village madwoman.  Especially at those sorry looking plates of food when these poor affluent children are used to so much better.  And they can probably recover in some luxe resort and absorb the cost unlike regular people or people caught in natural disasters or refugees.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: ShoulderThingThatGoesUp on April 28, 2017, 12:59:48 PM
If the stories about people being taken away by security are true I suspect there has been some actual Bad Shit that will make all this glee feel very unseemly.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: Davnasty on April 28, 2017, 02:03:38 PM
Ja Rule's comment is my favorite part -

"I truly apologize as this is NOT MY FAULT... but I'm taking responsibility."

Well said Mr Rule. Well said.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: I'm a red panda on April 28, 2017, 03:36:14 PM
If the stories about people being taken away by security are true I suspect there has been some actual Bad Shit that will make all this glee feel very unseemly.

This is the first I've ever heard of this Festival. What kind of things do you suspect happened?
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: StarBright on April 28, 2017, 08:00:29 PM
I just signed on to see if folks were talking about this!

I have to imagine some of the Reddit stuff that is being posted is flat-out-made-up, like the creepy pasta of festival going? But in any case it has been an interesting read all day.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: MgoSam on May 08, 2017, 02:19:02 PM
Looks like multiple lawsuits have filed by attendees and at least one filed by employees.

I'm having way too much reading about this. One article stated that paid endorsers may be liable, and so one of the Jenners might find her name getting added to the suits.

When I first heard about this disaster I couldn't help but think that the organizers would get destroyed by lawyers. It is one thing to screw up, it is another thing to screw while inconveniencing a lot of presumably wealthy people.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: jinga nation on May 09, 2017, 06:36:14 AM
Fyre: For your real entertainment.

FWIW I hadn't heard of this until the lawsuits all over mass media got my coworkers talking.
Ignorance truly is bliss.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: Davnasty on January 14, 2019, 09:03:51 AM
Netflix has made a documentary to investigate how the Fyre Festival fiasco went down. This is not the type of thing I would usually watch, but for some reason I don't think I can resist. Releases on Friday.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/13/684887614/fyre-festival-documentary-shows-perception-and-reality-of-infamous-concert-flop
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: mckaylabaloney on January 15, 2019, 11:49:07 AM
Netflix has made a documentary to investigate how the Fyre Festival fiasco went down. This is not the type of thing I would usually watch, but for some reason I don't think I can resist. Releases on Friday.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/13/684887614/fyre-festival-documentary-shows-perception-and-reality-of-infamous-concert-flop

Hulu made one too, and surprise-dropped it yesterday in advance of the Netflix doc. Lol @ this because the Hulu doc actually throws some shade at the Netflix doc, which is being produced by Jerry Media -- the company that actually ran the Fyre Festival promo campaign. Yikes! (Meanwhile, the Hulu people PAID the main fraudster to participate in their doc, which... also yikes. A Mess all around.)

I watched the Hulu doc yesterday and thought it was great. Genuinely funny and informative, does a good job illuminating the psyche of the primary con man involved -- not least because he actually participated in the doc (I mean honestly...they definitely got their money's worth) -- and puts the blame where it belongs, which is...pretty much everyone with any decision-making power. Plus, it highlights the biggest victims of this scam (IMO): the local Bahamanians who were forced to work insane hours and then were underpaid or not paid at all. It's worth your time.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: sapphail on January 20, 2019, 12:55:49 AM
I think the glee at seeing these 'rich kids' suffer is misplaced - most of the people who were scammed by this event were not rich at all. There was a ton of hype about the super pricey tickets, but the majority of tickets sold were not the high end ones, and most of the victims were regular kids who'd saved for the trip.

Quote
On social media, many gleefully celebrated the comeuppance of what they assumed were rich, spoilt millennials who paid $12,000 to attend a festival. Yet although headlines initially focused on this price tag, media interviews thus far reveal that many – if not most – of this weekend’s revellers in fact bought the “early bird” ticket for $500.


https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/social-media/2017/05/real-rich-kids-fyre-festival-didnt-suffer-its-failure

And even if they were annoying rich kids, if you pay for a service you should reasonably expect to receive it.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: MarciaB on January 20, 2019, 01:25:19 PM
I'm watching the Netflix documentary right now. My first thoughts were that I'm both old and square, as I didn't recognize a single artist they had booked. Who's going to play? What?

But my favorite part so far pretty much sums up the planning and players - there's a meeting with a group of key organizers and they're talking logistics around a large paper map of the island. And then someone spills their beer onto the map and they all laugh it off.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: TheGrimSqueaker on January 20, 2019, 03:33:31 PM
I'm watching the Netflix documentary right now. My first thoughts were that I'm both old and square, as I didn't recognize a single artist they had booked. Who's going to play? What?

But my favorite part so far pretty much sums up the planning and players - there's a meeting with a group of key organizers and they're talking logistics around a large paper map of the island. And then someone spills their beer onto the map and they all laugh it off.

Logistics requires a clear head. Destination, transportation infrastructure, non-transport infrastructure (electricity, potty, weather protection), support personnel (cooks, cleaners, techs, clergy, whatever), principals (in this case the booking of the entertainers and the key celebrity guests-- probably the easiest part since they're interchangeable), non-mission-critical crap like decorations, and then guests. In that order. It's not rocket science but it does require decision making, budgeting, prioritization, and organizational skill.

It sounds to me like the idiots involved had never organized anything as basic as a wedding or a family reunion.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: MarciaB on January 20, 2019, 04:00:58 PM
Plus Billy McFarland (the key sociopath and fraudster here) would just fire anyone who raised legitimate logistical concerns. Those clearheaded folks were told they were casting negative energy on the project and their services were no longer needed (and they often weren't paid either). McFarland would say that he was a "solutions focused" person, not a "problems focused" person, and wanted to be surrounded by the same.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: OtherJen on January 21, 2019, 07:22:16 AM
I'm watching the Netflix documentary right now. My first thoughts were that I'm both old and square, as I didn't recognize a single artist they had booked. Who's going to play? What?

Husband and I watched the Hulu documentary and realized that we only recognized Blink-182, the first act to pull out of the lineup. We felt old.

The Hulu doc was insane. McFarland was incapable of owning up to anything beyond poor planning and spent the entire interview with his pupils weirdly dilated (I don’t have enough experience with chemical enhancement to know what causes that). I have very little sympathy for anyone involved in “planning” and marketing. All of them knew that this would be a shitshow and no one was willing to tell McFarland “no.”
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: Indexer on January 22, 2019, 06:17:58 PM
Watching the Netflix documentary now. This was planned terribly.



I've been to music festivals, never anything expensive. I stick to the $300 or less festivals, which isn't bad for a 4 day vacation.

I've stayed in a tent that I set up myself, cooked all my meals on a pop up grill, and it was hot and loud at all times. It was well worth it!!! I wanted to see the shows and could care less about my sleeping arrangements between shows.


Sad that so many people were screwed by this. I'm not just talking about the concert goers, but also the ground workers who were never paid, and the high level employees who paid for things with their own credit cards and were never reimbursed by Billy.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: partgypsy on February 07, 2019, 11:25:50 AM
Watched the Netflix documentary. It actually made me more sympathetic towards the people who signed up for the fest. In wondering if the guy was clueless or a scam artist, you realize by the end the guy was just a scam artist. Not just the people who bought tickets, but the investors and especially the employees, both for the original legit company and the Bahamian people. The woman who busted her butt working as well as feeding the workers without being paid up front. She ended up spending 50K of her own life savings to compensate people because well she lived there an had no where else to go, made me so angry. That and him moving out of his parents home and into penthouse like hotel rooms, to run a fake ticket scam targeting people already scammed from the Fyre fest WHILE out on BAIL, also made me angry. Glad he's in prison.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: witzig on February 07, 2019, 07:20:21 PM
The restaurant owner who lost 50k of her savings has actually received over 200k in donations since the documentaries aired.  https://www.gofundme.com/exuma-point-fyre-fest-debt

Good for her!  This is even more than she was seeking, so hopefully she can use any excess to help others who were scammed.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: BeautifulDay on February 07, 2019, 08:33:11 PM
Watching the Netflix version now. This is a slow train wreck and it makes me ill.

Just feel so bad for the locals.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: partgypsy on February 08, 2019, 01:51:27 PM
The restaurant owner who lost 50k of her savings has actually received over 200k in donations since the documentaries aired.  https://www.gofundme.com/exuma-point-fyre-fest-debt

Good for her!  This is even more than she was seeking, so hopefully she can use any excess to help others who were scammed.

I was wondering if anything like this was set up, so I'm glad people helped her out.
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: marty998 on February 17, 2019, 03:33:12 AM
I'm watching the Netflix documentary right now. My first thoughts were that I'm both old and square, as I didn't recognize a single artist they had booked. Who's going to play? What?

But my favorite part so far pretty much sums up the planning and players - there's a meeting with a group of key organizers and they're talking logistics around a large paper map of the island. And then someone spills their beer onto the map and they all laugh it off.

I only recognised Blink 182. But even they are now so old, I doubt your average 22 year old millennial has even heard of them haha.

The doco ending left me feeling that there was not enough punishment handed out for the offences committed. Rich, entitled, fast talking dude will carry on again as soon as he is paroled. Won't be long till he gets out
Title: Re: Fyre Festival & The Disaster of Conspicuous Consumption
Post by: fattest_foot on February 20, 2019, 01:42:58 PM
I only recognised Blink 182. But even they are now so old, I doubt your average 22 year old millennial has even heard of them haha.

The doco ending left me feeling that there was not enough punishment handed out for the offences committed. Rich, entitled, fast talking dude will carry on again as soon as he is paroled. Won't be long till he gets out

This is kind of why I liked the Hulu documentary better. The Netflix one was more of a documentary about the Fyre festival, whereas the Hulu one was almost a documentary about Billy McFarland (with a focus on Fyre).