Billy McFarland is giving someone else a chance to own the rights to his infamous Fyre Festival.
“I’ve done a lot of crazy things, but this might be the craziest thing yet,” McFarland, 33, said in a video shared via Instagram on Tuesday, July 8. “Today, I’m taking the most famous festival brand, Fyre Festival, and putting [it] up for auction on eBay starting at one cent.”
McFarland claimed that the Fyre brand had, to date, received “over one thousand offers,” but he wanted to sell the brand in a different way.
“I am done playing games. Through all the noise, the chaos, the hype, and the craziness, Fyre has had over 32 billion impressions online since 2017,” he explained. “Whoever owns the Fyre brand will have an attention engine to launch festivals, do merch collabs, do insane pop-ups, run live streams, or build a media brand.”
The entrepreneur also noted that the Fyre brand has a music deal run by an “independent company” that is not included in the auction.
Since going live on Tuesday, the Fyre brand has received just a little over 100 bids. As of Wednesday, July 9, the bid is at $200,500. Up for grabs is Fyre’s “trademarks, IP, social media assets and more,” per the listing. The auction will go on until Monday, July 14.
McFarland created the infamous Fyre Festival in 2017 alongside rapper Ja Rule. In addition to hosting a luxurious musical getaway in Great Exuma in the Bahamas, the festival was meant to promote McFarland’s music talent booking app, Fyre. However, the execution of the event failed in a catastrophic way — there were issues with security, accommodations, food availability, medical services, bands and more.
Fyre Festival made headlines when it was ultimately canceled and left attendees stranded on a remote part of the island with nothing to eat and no safe place to stay. The incident was the subject of multiple documentaries after going viral.
Following the public scrutiny, McFarland and Ja Rule were both sued for $100 million by disappointed attendees in May 2017. The following month, McFarland was arrested by federal agents for wire fraud. In March 2018, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and defrauding investors. Later that year, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison. He was released early in March 2022 and remained under house arrest until September 2022.
Ja Rule claimed he was scammed by McFarland and was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing by a judge in November 2019.
Earlier this year, McFarland announced that he was bringing back the Fyre Festival.
“I’m sure many people think I’m crazy for doing this again. But I feel I’d be crazy not to do it again,” he wrote via X in February. “After years of reflection and now thoughtful planning, the new team and I have amazing plans for FYRE 2. The adventure seekers who trust the vision and take the leap will help make history. Thank you to my partners for the second chance.”
The follow-up festival was scheduled from May 30 to June 2 in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. The event was postponed before McFarland announced he was selling the brand.
