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11th Jan 2019

Netflix’s documentary on rich kids getting scammed at the world’s crappiest festival looks great

Paul Moore

“The laughing stock of everything”

Ever since the first teaser trailer for FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened was released, our interest was piqued because let’s be honest, who doesn’t enjoy a little bit of schadenfreude?

As previously reported, FYRE Festival was a bit of a clusterf**k as what was billed as the world’s best musical festival on a tropical paradise descended into absolute chaos as festivalgoers accused the organisers of scamming them out of their money.

The luxury $12,000 festival in the Bahamas was supposed to be all about the high life – amazing food, expensive yoga treatments, treasure hunts for thousands of dollars, massages, and meditation sessions – what the patrons actually got was a lack of food, security, and proper planning.

Ultimately, the festivalgoers needed to take shelter from the conditions in emergency relief tents.

FYRE was the brainchild of Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule.

Billy McFarland, founder and CEO of FYRE Media, was placed under arrest on 30 June 2017 and charged with wire fraud in a Manhattan federal court related to the organisation of the festival to promote the FYRE music booking app.

He was recently sentenced to six years in prison and branded a “serial fraudster” for the whole scheme.

Chris Smith, the director behind the Emmy Award Nominated documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, gives a first-hand look into disastrous crash of FYRE as told by the organisers themselves.

The documentary is released on 18 January, 2019.

 Clip via Netflix UK & Ireland

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Netflix,TV