Billy McFarland, aka one of the only individuals in the world whose Wikipedia page headline includes the label “fraudster”, has officially announced plans for a Fyre Festival II. Having only been out of prison for a year, the conniving con man took to Twitter on 10 April 2023 to let his so-called ‘fans’ know that he’d be spearheading another festival. Clearly, he wasn’t properly scathed from his last attempt at party planning…

🔥 Fyre Festival II is finally happening.

Tell me why you should be invited.

— Billy McFarland (@pyrtbilly) April 10, 2023

In 2017, McFarland, along with his merry band of men (which included R&B star Ja Rule), set out to put on one of the most exclusive, expensive and extravagant music festivals of all time. Held in the heart of the Bahamas, McFarland promised guests a magical weekend full of VIP experiences, quality food and incredible accommodation.

This, of course, all went terribly wrong after high-paying customers arrived on the island, only to find zero facilities, half-made wrecked camping sites, and a seriously distressed McFarland. If you’re interested in watching the train wreck play out, Netflix naturally packaged it into an easy to digest 90-minute documentary for you.

In 2018, the 31-year-old pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud and was sentenced to six years in prison. However, he was released early in March 2022 and subsequently ordered to pay back £23 million to festival investors.

Since the incident, McFarland has expressed some regret, telling Good Morning America that he was “wrong” to go ahead with the event, as reported by The Independent.

Clearly, however, this remorse lasted about as long as McFarland spent on planning the festival itself, because as seen in his recent tweet, the fraudster is right back to his old tricks.

After announcing that “Fyre Festival II is finally happening,” McFarland also encouraged users to reply in the comments section why they should be invited. One individual simply put: “Because I’m not Ja Rule,” to which McFarland replied “You’re in.”

Another user wrote: “Tell me why you shouldn’t be in jail?” And in quintessential McFarland fashion, he wrote back: “It’s in the best interest of those I owe for me to be working. People aren’t getting paid back if I sit on the couch and watch TV. And because I served my time.”

tell me why you shouldn't be in jail

— Snookis Bumpit™ (@icespicestanact) April 11, 2023

Oh and it looks like one of McFarland’s old pals Andy King will be rejoining the troops. In response to the festival creator’s tweet, King posted: “FYRE Festival 2.0. Who’s in?? Let’s go.”

For anyone who may have forgotten the role King played in the Fyre Festival fiasco, he was the man tasked with bribing the man from customs to release all of the Evian water by providing him with a particular sexual favour. Not sure how McFarland has managed to recruit him back onto his team.

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A post shared by Billy McFarland (@pyrtbilly)

We’ve been told very little details about what this next event may entail, but one thing’s for sure, if McFarland is involved, it’s guaranteed to go down in flames.

As the highly anticipated—and, for some, dreaded—2022 FIFA World Cup is finalising last-minute details ahead of its kick-off on Sunday 20 November in Qatar, a leaked video has been stealing the tournament’s thunder after it rapidly gained some traction online.

The footage in question revealed the sketchy living conditions that many fans who opted for alternative options to staying at hotels will have to settle for—and we’ll be honest, it’s not looking good. So much so in fact that many netizens have been quick to compare the fan villages which were originally advertised as luxurious desert getaways to the catatonic mess that was the fraudulent Fyre Festival.

Because there weren’t enough hotel rooms to host the expected amount of fans—more than a million visitors—the event’s organising committee offered stand-in accommodation built specifically for the month-long tournament.

Among some of the villages being advertised to football enthusiasts is the Fan Village Al Khor, where a tent starts at around $424 per night—a hefty sum that was somewhat justified by the luxurious promotional images that first circulated. Other reports have stated that some of the tents could be rented for around $200 a night.

However, as the now-viral video revealed, it seems pretty clear that what was pitched to fans will not become reality for the unlucky ones who chose this accommodation option. Instead, the footage showed a village that consisted of hundreds of tents with nothing but a couple of beds and a nightstand placed in them.

The obvious lack of furniture put aside, the tents hardly seemed to hold up to the strong Qatari winds. Oh, and they were located just off highways and near aeroports, so the noise is bound to be unbearable too.

Fans rooms in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/detQFVVkvR

— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 15, 2022

It’s not surprising then why people have linked the underwhelming accommodations to the most-talked festival experience of 2017, Fyre Festival. Advertised by famous faces including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Bieber, it was sold as a glamorous party on a deserted island.

Tickets cost up to $100,000 and guests who booked were promised luxury accommodation alongside “the best in food, art, music, and adventure” in the dreamy Bahamas. Instead, they arrived and were faced with mattresses on rain-soaked floors, meals of cheese slices on dry bread, and didn’t even have access to their own luggage.

Speaking of the recent footage, one Twitter user wrote: “This screams Fyre Festival vibes.” Another echoed: “Did they hire the Fyre Festival guy to arrange this?” “This is a disaster waiting to happen,” warned a third.

“Everyone should stay away. Looks like a good place to disappear and get sold,” concluded yet another.