Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland Tries to Cash Out—Again—With Brand Sale Amid Sequel Fiasco

Billy McFarland, infamous for masterminding the spectacularly disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival, has announced he's selling the Fyre brand after a bumpy attempt to revive the festival with "Fyre Festival 2" in Mexico. The would-be sequel, hyped for late May through early June, was beset with confusion, government denials, and—brace yourself—another postponement.

After spending several years in prison for defrauding investors out of millions, leaving festival-goers stranded in the Bahamas with little more than sad cheese sandwiches, McFarland resurfaced with grand plans for a comeback. But as the new event's date loomed, the project ran into a familiar wall: local authorities said they had no idea it was happening, first in Isla Mujeres, then Playa del Carmen. Meanwhile, ticket vendors quietly issued refunds and confirmed the whole thing was on pause—no official word came from Fyre itself.

In a statement posted to Instagram, McFarland called Fyre "one of the most powerful attention engines in the world," and said that the brand now "deserves a team with the scale, experience, and infrastructure to realize its full potential." Translation: he's looking for someone else to take this flaming hot potato off his hands.

McFarland's pitch is that Fyre comes with all its trademarks, digital assets, and—my personal favorite—"cultural capital." The announcement comes right after the failed attempt to stage the sequel, which saw city governments repeatedly deny any involvement. Organizers insisted they'd been working with Playa del Carmen officials since March, but local authorities quickly shot back on social media: no such event was scheduled.

Tickets for the would-be Fyre Festival 2 started at $1,400 and soared to over $1 million for the full VIP yacht-and-villa treatment. No word on whether that million-dollar experience included a complimentary Netflix documentary cameo.

Let's not forget, the original Fyre Festival's collapse became the stuff of internet legend, spawning two documentaries and a viral hashtag—#fyrefraud—plus a hefty court-ordered payout to nearly 300 ticket holders in 2021.

With this latest pivot, McFarland seems ready to turn the page—or at least sell it to the highest bidder. If there's a third act in store for Fyre, here's hoping it comes with fewer lawsuits and a lot more actual music.