The shitshow that was Fyre Festival is coming back, disgraced founder Billy McFarland announced.
After the absolute disaster that was his first attempt, featuring no actual musical acts, FEMA tents instead of luxury accommodations and some seriously sad cheese sandwiches, you might think he'd call it quits.
But nope, fresh off of four years in prison and millions of dollars of debt, the festival organiser took to social media to announce the triumphant return of his ill-fated gig.
He tweeted on Monday: "Fyre Festival II is finally happening", asking his followers to tell him why they should be invited.
McFarland's first attempt at the exclusive luxury festival imploded in 2016, descending into utter chaos on the Bahamian Island of Great Exuma.
It was advertised as the "cultural experience of the decade", with McFarland and his business partner Ja Rule enlisting a group of social media supermodels to market the Festival, including the likes of Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski
The festival was made to look glamorous, tropical and fun, with tickets costing upwards of US$10,000 (NZ$16,142).
In reality, attendees of the festival were left stranded with little to no food on the island and many had no tent to sleep in.
In October last year, McFarland announced his latest venture PYRT, pronounced 'pirate' (insert eye roll here) where the renowned fraudster planned to host a party on a remote island featuring luxury, models and entertainment. Sounds a little too familiar…right? There hasn't been any official word yet, but the second Fyre Festival might be a part of this new venture.
Just a little while after McFarland took to Twitter to share his hype, one of the festival's producers, Andy King, who gained prominence for his involvement in the Netflix doco about the festival, chimed in with his own message, doubling down on the excitement.
King's tweet wrote: 'FYRE Festival 2.0,' adding 'Who's in? Let's go.'
But not everyone's thrilled to see McFarland's return. The residents of Great Exuma, where the infamous festival went down, are still reeling from the aftermath. According to the 2019 Netflix documentary, many of the local workers were left unpaid, with McFarland owing a quarter of a million dollars in wages to labourers.
People on social media are also not holding back on their opinions, jokes, memes, and straight-up scathing comments.
One user even dared to ask McFarland the question on many people's minds: "Tell me why you shouldn't be in jail."' McFarland responded: "It's in the best interest of those I owe for me to be working. People aren't getting paid back if I sit on the couch and watch TV. And because I served my time."
It's clear that McFarland's not ready to fade into the shadows just yet. But will his latest venture be a hit or a miss?
We'll just have to wait and see, but fair to say I won't be signing up to the ticket pre-sale.
