Disgraced Fyre Festival Creator Returns with New Event PYRT

Fyre Festival co-creator Billy McFarland is proposing a business venture, PYRT, and it begins with another destination event in the Bahamas. 

Everyone knows Billy McFarland as an American “entrepreneur” who co-founded the infamous Fyre Festival in 2017 with Ja Rule. The festival was marketed as an elite and luxurious music event on a private island in the Bahamas.

Fyre Festival built hype around the event recruiting several celebrities to promote it on social media in addition to promising performances from A-list music artists. Attendees paid substantial amounts of money thinking they were going to receive high-end accommodations, gourmet food, and the weekend of a lifetime.

Though to everyone’s surprise, it was quite the opposite. People were met with no festival, tent-like lodging, cheese sandwiches, and virtually no staff or security running the place.

McFarland soon faced several lawsuits and was sentenced to six years of prison and was ordered to pay $26 million in restitution to his victims as a result of the disastrous event. However, Billy has now been released and has a new business venture to propose. 

Everyone please welcome the new startup, PYRT (pronounced “pirate”). McFarland has posted several TikTok videos explaining that his new idea is NOT a music festival and NOT the metaverse even though it does require virtual reality integration.

According to him, PYRT is a technology that he coined as VID/R which translates to Virtual Immersive Decentralized Reality. The premise starts by hosting a small destination event with artists, content creators, and entrepreneurs somewhere in the Bahamas.

@pyrtbilly

For all of those that either love to hate or genuinely support me… THIS is what I’ve been working on. THIS is what will clear the air. THIS IS PYRT @PYRT 🏴‍☠️ 🏴‍☠️

♬ Super Gremlin – Kodak Black

Simultaneously there will be a  replica island created where anyone around the world can watch and join in on the fun using this VID/R-integrated tech. Not only can people watch from the comfort of their homes, but they will be able to participate in decisions that can effect change in real-time at the party.

Though he might have to find a different destination because Bahamian officials were quoted by NBC News saying McFarland isn’t welcome on the island and they would prevent any more of his ventures from happening there. “The Government of The Bahamas will not endorse or approve any event in The Bahamas associated with him,” the Bahamian Ministry of Tourism said.

As of right now, he is actively hiring people and looking for partnerships that want to work with PYRT. When asked days ago on Twitter how is he going to pay back the individuals he scammed he replied, “Working 85-hour work weeks and doing my best to provide value so I can earn and make small steps to pay back those I owe”.

What are your thoughts? Can Billy McFarland right his wrongs and make the most shocking comeback ever? Perhaps he’s a better businessman (or con man) than we know.

Jaci Soukhathivong

An Atlanta gal chasing her love for electronic dance music. I’ve been with Exron since 2018 and have the privilege of contributing to the culture alongside other badass women whom I now call my friends. My introduction to the scene was first influenced by trap music, but my discography has since expanded to touch a bit of everything. Some of my favorite artists are Zeds Dead, Cloonee, Nghtmre, Flume, Infekt, Sosa, Bleu Clair, Subtronics, but the list goes on forever.

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