Fyre Festival Dumpster Fire

UPDATE 4/15/21: Fyre Festival ticket holders have been awarded $7,220 each as part of a proposed $2 million settlement agreement between certain ticket holders and the trustee of the Fyre Festival estate. Our original article follows.

Attendees of the Fyre Festival, a music festival hosted by recording artist Ja Rule and scheduled to take place this weekend and next in the Bahamas, may find themselves to be victims of false advertising.

Organizers of the event relied heavily on social media influencers, such as Victoria’s Secret models Alessandra Ambrosia and Elsa Hosk and “It Girls” Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin, and Emily Ratajkowski, to pitch the festival to their millions of followers (TINA.org would note a lack of #ad in many of these posts…) Promotional videos made by event organizers featured plenty of scantily-clad women in luxurious beach settings. However, the reality of the festival has not lived up to expectations.

Event management posted today that the event had been cancelled. Will those who shelled out thousands for this “once-in-a-lifetime musical experience” be receiving refunds? Time will tell.

UPDATE 5/2/17: Fyre Media and festival co-founders Ja Rule and Billy McFarland are facing a $100 million class-action lawsuit alleging fraud. Read TINA.org’s coverage here.