The Fyre Festival, the millennial music festival in the Bahamas that descended into hell and has been described as the “Hunger Games but with less luxury,” still owes the island hundreds of thousands of dollars and has not paid anyone for their services.
“There are mammoth bills,” says a source. “Hundreds of thousands of bills from everyone who was running the charter flights to the laborers and security. Huge bills.”
Organizers Billy McFarland and Ja Rule also owe more than a hundred thousand in customs fees to export items like the staging back to the US. Right now, everything is still there.
McFarland has also gone on the lam. Sources tell us he left the island when things devolved into chaos, but McFarland told us Friday he was still on site and would be in the Exumas all week helping out.
“There is no arrest warrant, he is not being detained,” says a source. “No one knows why he is not taking his head out of the sand.”
An angry memo was sent from the Ministry of Tourism to Fyre’s crisis manager, Eddie James, over the weekend threatening legal action after McFarland told Rolling Stone, “The Exumas didn’t have a really great infrastructure . . . There wasn’t water or sewage. It was almost like we tried building a city out of nothing.”
“As we continue to deal with the fallout from this failed event and the angry workers and companies owed thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, we are now fighting angry tourism stakeholders in Exuma regarding Billy’s claim the Exumas have no infrastructure,” reads the letter. “This is false and our attorney will have to address this if he continues his media blitz making false statements.”
The festival was thrown on a remote site called Roker’s Point and McFarland “should have accurately assessed the challenges many months ago.” The ministry added, “Ask Sandals about the infrastructure,” and threatened legal action. “Tell him to stop it or he will be sued,” reads the letter.
The Fyre team addressed the issue in their own statement, saying, “The Fyre Festival has been working diligently to rectify all the issues on Roker’s Point in the Bahamas . . . We recognize and apologize for our shortcomings in this situation. The Fyre Festival takes full responsibility for the difficult turn of events over the last 24 hours on Roker’s Point. Our guests’ comfort and safe travels back to Miami from the island has been our biggest priority.”
On Monday morning, the director general of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Joy Jibrilu, said the agency is working closely with Fyre and McFarland to make sure everyone is paid.
They also defended the island, saying, “the waters surrounding Great Exuma are not shark infested” and that “Claims that the island of Great Exuma is a remote private cay with no infrastructure are also patently false.”
They also note Johnny Depp, David Copperfield and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill own private islands in the Exumas.
Fyre has also been hit with a $100 million class-action lawsuit from Daniel Jung, who paid $2,000 to attend the festival, according to reports. His attorney is Mark Geragos, whose clients have included Michael Jackson and Chris Brown.