The organizers of the disastrous Fyre Festival— which charged $12,000 a ticket, splurged the proceeds on celebrity endorsements and other bullshit, failed to prepare the site in time for the rich kids flying there, then delayed the event as they went feral at the half-finished event site in the Bahamas, then flew them all home—has informed staff they will not be paid. But if they want to, they can volunteer!
On Friday, Billy McFarland, the 25-year-old founder of the disastrous Fyre Festival, told his shell-shocked employees that their paychecks covering the past two weeks would not be coming. Nor would he be firing them, a prerequisite for unemployment benefits in most states. Instead, McFarland offered to allow his dozen-or-so employees to stay on in unpaid roles, where they could work to grow the business to a place where they might get paid again.
The meeting, audio of which was obtained by VICE News, wrapped up weeks of uncertainty for the employees of Fyre Media, the company behind Fyre Festival, whose primary job had been building a celebrity and talent booking app the festival was intended to promote. Rapper and Fyre Media co-founder Ja Rule was on the grim conference call, but his role was that of a listener.
“I’m on the phone but I can barely hear you all because of this fucking hum,” Ja Rule said.
The organizers are millionaires and can obviously afford to pay their staff, and the reputational immolation of Ja Rule and McFarland is already complete, so the obvious opinion to take is that they're at the fuck all of you stage, where every last penny represents a tiny fragment of their narcissistic egos and will be pinched. For anyone on the books, the "offer" of volunteer status would avoid laying them off and therefore being on the hook for unemployment benefits. For any being paid in cash off the books, it perhaps offers a paperwork opportunity to save them from the brutal ministrations of the IRS.
Previously: Already regretting assigning J.G. Ballard to cover the Fyre Festival, Fyre festival organizers hit with $100 million fraud and breach of contract lawsuit
