--- title: "Billy McFarland Threatens to Hold Another Fyre Festival" description: "It's been a year since Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland was let out of prison early — and he's already planning another one." date: "2023-04-11" modified: "2023-04-11" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/fyre-fest-founder-another-one" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "fraud" - "fyre fest" - "scams" - "the digest" --- # Billy McFarland Threatens to Hold Another Fyre Festival ![It's been a year since Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland was let out of prison early — and he's already planning another one.]() *\Image: Patrick McMullen via Getty / Futurism\* ## The Roof Is on Fyre It's been a year since Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland was let out of prison early after defrauding investors. But now, he's already planning to hold another one — and this time, shockingly, it'll be all about crypto and the metaverse. In a tweet that has unsurprisingly gone viral, McFarland teased — complete with fire emojis — that "[Fyre Festival II is finally happening]()" before inviting Twitter users to "tell me why you should be invited." ## Tricky, Tricky Held all the way back in 2017, Fyre Fest 1.0 was so disastrous that the name itself literally became a [metaphor for failed ventures](). With the help of rapper [Jeffrey "Ja Rule" Atkins]() and events planner Andy King, who is perhaps best known for reportedly being [willing to perform sex acts]() in exchange for potable water on the festival grounds, McFarland's festival was such an epic failure, it literally resulted in him being slapped with a [six-year prison sentence]() — though he only ended up serving one of those years, in the end. After being [released early from his six-year prison sentence]() in March 2022 and then let out of a [New York halfway house]() a few months later, the Fyre Fest founder has been busy with a [new scheme]() he's calling "PYRT" — which is supposed to be pronounced like "pirate" — which unsurprisingly involves crypto and a digital festival to be held entirely in the metaverse. As [*Insider* notes](), part of McFarland's guilty plea deal was to agree never to serve as the director of a public company again, though given that neither PYRT nor Fyre are public companies, he seems to have found a glaring loophole. ## Slam Dunk Unsurprisingly, everyone is already dunking on McFarland's dumpster "Fyre" of a tweet. "Hey, if this can happen maybe FTX really will come back," [reporter Colin Wilhelm tweeted]() in response to the news. "We deserve this timeline," another [joked](). Indeed, as insane as the concept of buying tickets to a Fyre Fest II seems to be, there will undoubtedly be people who drop thousands of dollars just to see what happens — and honestly, they deserve whatever they get. **More on scams:** [*Former Biotech CEO Arrested for Implanting Phony Medical Devices in Patients*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()