Ja Rule and the Fyre Festival are facing a $100 million (S$140 million) lawsuit after the “luxury” music festival in the Bahamas they charged up to $49,000 to attend was plagued by terrible housing arrangements, food issues, thieves and feral dogs.
Concertgoers reported an organizational mess that failed to live up to the marketing material. The “Private Luxury Villas” Fyre Festival had promised for housing ended up being USAID disaster-relief tents. Services like baggage handling and guest assistance, too, didn’t meet guests’ expectations.
And while Ja Rule and organizers issued an apology, it didn’t satisfy people upset with the artist:
Shortly thereafter, a class-action lawsuit representing attendees was filed against Ja Rule, co-founder Billy McFarland and Fyre Media, the company that runs Fyre Festival. Geragos & Geragos, a firm that has represented high-profile clients such as Chris Brown and Michael Jackson, is handling the case.
According to the lawsuit, Fyre Festival’s conditions were dangerous, unsuitable and completely at odds with what was promised.
“The festival’s lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees – suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions – that was closer to “The Hunger Games” or “Lord of the Flies” than Coachella,” the suit, filed in a US District Court in California, said.
The suit alleges that the organizers were aware months in advance that the festival was “dangerously under-equipped and posed a serious danger to anyone in attendance” and is seeking damages in excess of $100 million.
That’s on top of what the company already offered in a statement:
“All festival goers this year will be refunded in full,” the statement said. “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.”
“Thank you for all your continued patience and understanding. We apologise for what all of our guests and staff went through over the last 24 hours and will work tirelessly to make this right.”
