In the news:
Last week, Billy McFarland and Ja Rule saw their festival brainchild come to fruition – with disastrous results. Fyre Festival, advertised as a luxury weekend of music in the Bahamas, with gourmet catering, lavish tents for camping, VIP treatment, etc., targeted affluent millennials with its hefty ticket prices. The event had been promoted by higher-up models and celebrities, including Kendall Jenner (needless to say, her PR team has had a rough year).
The reality of the event was in stark contrast to expectations, though. Attendees arrived to emergency-like campsites, the “lavish” tents were sparse and spaced closely together, the “gourmet” food included dismal salads and pieces of bread, and luggage was thrown into the crowd with no semblance of organization. The entire event lacked structure, and the results were chaotic. Not to mention, even the performers caught wind of the disaster – Blink 182, one of the headliners for the festival, pulled out the night before the event.
Ultimately, flights to the Bahamas were canceled, excluding empty flights that were sent as “rescue missions” to retrieve those who were “stranded” at the remnants of the failed event. Social media, namely Twitter, exploded as the unbelievable realities of this festival unfolded.
(Source: Google Images)
The organizers of the event responded immediately. Billy McFarland issued an apology via an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, where he attempted to shed light on the situation as he highlighted his regrets. He emphasized his inexperience, and promised refunds and better planning next year.
Ja Rule took to Twitter to issue his response, but in a less professional manner. An article from Business Insider discusses his apology. While apologizing for the situation, Ja Rule simultaneously opposes his guilt, and then states he is taking responsibility. In his tweet, he ends with, “…I truly apologize as this is NOT MY FAULT… but I’m taking responsibility I’m deeply sorry to everyone who was inconvenienced by this…”
Insights:
To be frank, the entire situation was disastrous and poorly planned, which is evidently an understatement. The two in charge had no idea what they were doing, and McFarland conceded to that in his interview. The idea that they would even endeavor to try planning this festival again is a little surprising. Despite their apologies, their credibility has been completely destroyed.
So what could be done? Have the aforementioned apologies sufficed? From my perspective, both apologies felt half-hazard. Truly, not much can be done at this point in order to remedy the situation – really, it comes down to financial compensation and reparations in that regard. Should the two be forgiven? Can they be? It’s hard to tell.
How these two will carry on in future public endeavors should be interesting to follow – I’ll be anxious to see what happens next year.
– sidenote: the two have since suffered the blows of (now three) well-deserved lawsuits.
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