Editor: NOT to be confused with SA’s AfrikaBurn Festival in the Karoo (see below).
In a turn that feels divinely preordained, a Fyre Festival attendee leveled the first lawsuit against Billy McFarland and Ja Rule’s aborted weekend-long luxury concert, which saw hundreds of would-be attendees stranded next to a Sandals resort and unable to get home.
Daniel Jung filed suit on Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for alleged fraud, breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith, and negligent misrepresentation. Mark Geragos of firm Geragos & Geragos is lead attorney.
If Geragos sounds familiar, the attorney has represented Winona Ryder, Michael Jackson, and Kesha in the past, and a lead character in ABC’s Notorious is based off of him. Geragos told Vanity Fair over the phone that since he’s the “father to a couple of millennials,” it became apparent he had a class-action lawsuit on his hands “almost immediately because of chatter.”
His team is still trying to determine the potential size of that class, exactly. The final number of ticket holders affected by the concert’s cancellation is not known, but since filing last night, “conservatively over 1,000 people have inquired at the office, ranging from people who quit working for the organization to people who were stranded there to people who had gone all the way to Florida and could not get from Florida to [the Bahamas].” The suit estimates damages at $100 million.
“I’m actually personally a little bit stunned at just what a complete disaster this was,” Geragos added. “There’s a lot here to get our arms around because it is so amorphous, it was so disorganized, but clearly we’re tracing the money that was paid out and we will know shortly.”
In a statement written in the Notes App and tweeted from his account, the suit’s second attorney, Ben Meiselas, called the event a “festival of horror” and seeks damages to cover “not only a ticket refund but also 100 percent reimbursement for travel, lodging, time off from work, and any other incidental and consequential damages.”
Would-be festival-goers paid between $1,000 up to $150,000 on various packages that included luxury accommodations. Blink-182, Migos, Major Lazer, and various artists on Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label were scheduled to perform. Attendees who made it past the Miami tarmac (as far as many ticket holders got), found a half-built tent city built on a patchy hilltop, little security, and sad sandwiches when they arrived. Or as the suit puts it:….
MORE: The First Fyre Festival Fraud Suit Is Here and Asking for $100 Million | Vanity Fair
A Statement on the Fyre Festival web site says:
April 29, 2017
Yesterday was a very challenging day for all of us. But we would like to fully explain what happened.
Billy McFarland and Ja Rule started a partnership over a mutual interest in technology, the ocean, and rap music. This unique combination of interests led them to the idea that, through their combined passions, they could create a new type of music festival and experience on a remote island.
They simply weren’t ready for what happened next, or how big this thing would get. They started by making a website and launching a viral campaign. Ja helped book talent, and they had hundreds of local Bahamians join in the effort. Suddenly, they found themselves transforming a small island and trying to build a festival. Thousands of people wanted to come. They were excited, but then the roadblocks started popping up.
As amazing as the islands are, the infrastructure for a festival of this magnitude needed to be built from the ground up. So, we decided to literally attempt to build a city. We set up water and waste management, brought an ambulance from New York, and chartered 737 planes to shuttle our guests via 12 flights a day from Miami. We thought we were ready, but then everyone arrived.
The team was overwhelmed. The airport was jam packed. The buses couldn’t handle the load. And the wind from rough weather took down half of the tents on the morning our guests were scheduled to arrive. This is an unacceptable guest experience and the Fyre team takes full responsibility for the issues that occurred.
Everyone was very concerned for our guests. They needed a place to sleep and everyone did their absolute best to rebuild. We took everyone to the beach and built as many tents and beds as fast as possible, but as more guests arrived, we were simply in over our heads. Ultimately, we didn’t think security could keep up, so we had to postpone the festival. The response to the postponement was immediate and intense. We had no other options, so we began the process of getting guests quickly and safely back to Miami, which continued through the weekend. Our top priority as a company is to ensure the comfort and safe return home of all of our guests.
Then something amazing happened: venues, bands, and people started contacting us and said they’d do anything to make this festival a reality and how they wanted to help. The support from the musical community has been overwhelming and we couldn’t be more humbled or inspired by this experience. People were rooting for us after the worst day we’ve ever had as a company. After speaking with our potential partners, we have decided to add more seasoned event experts to the 2018 Fyre Festival, which will take place at a United States beach venue.
All festival goers this year will be refunded in full. We will be working on refunds over the next few days and will be in touch directly with guests with more details. Also, all guests from this year will have free VIP passes to next year’s festival.
We’re grateful for the Bahamian Government and The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism for their assistance during this challenging time—their efforts have been exemplary. We want to thank the people of the Bahamas for their support and for graciously allowing us the privilege of visiting their islands. We apologize for any inconvenience the past 24-hours has caused and we look forward to making a considerable donation to the Bahamas Red Cross Society as part of our initiatives. We need to make this right. And once we make this right, then we will put on the dream festival we sought to have since the inception of Fyre.
Thank you for all your continued patience and understanding. We apologize for what all of our guests and staff went through over the last 24 hours and will work tirelessly to make this right. Please check our official social media channels (@fyrefestival) for further important updates.
All about South Africa’s Afrikaburn?
AfrikaBurn is a community of participants who come together to create art, burning structures, costume, performance, theme camps, music, mutant vehicles and much, much more. All of this is created through the volunteer culture of the citizens of Tankwa Town in the Karoo once a year.
AfrikaBurn’s aim is to be radically inclusive and accessible to anyone. The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, ritual before symbolism, work before vested interest, participant support before sponsorship.
Nothing is for sale but ice at the event. Nothing. There are no vendors, no advertising or branding. It just doesn’t fit in. It’s not even a barter economy – it’s a decommodified zone with a gift economy that’s about giving without expecting anything in return.
To really understand AfrikaBurn, you should check out the eleven principles, which act as guidelines for the event and culture. They’re not rules, or commandments, but understanding them will unlock the magic of the experience for you.