“In the Bahamas, sometimes we tend to get careless about business and we lean more to good faith, that’s our culture.” This is what Maryanne Rolle told Tribune 242 about business owners who were apart of Fyre Festival. Billy McFarland, the brain behind the event, was able to defraud the Bahamian government and people so easily. This begs the question—was this preventable?
Before we get into how Bahamas is truly the center of this dispute, here’s a brief rundown of the intentions behind Fyre Festival. It was supposed to marry top music talent with exclusive access to models and influencers dominating social media over two weekends. Attendees would experience VIP treatments, private planes, and luxurious resort-like escapes in Grand Exuma, Bahamas, the largest cay in the Exuma district.
The exact opposite happened. Millennials, some of whom paid upwards of $25,000 for a ticket, were greeted to FEMA tents and anguished workers hurrying to physically put the event together. The Hunger Games ensued and millennials fought for shelter, food, and water.
Hulu’s Fyre Fraud and Netflix’s Fyre showed how the festival was one large, deliberate scam on part of festival co-founders, Billy McFarland and Ja-Rule. McFarland deliberately defrauded investors, employees, and ticket-buyers out of millions of dollars as his inability to execute overshadowed his new idea of experiencing festivals. Ja-Rule has since removed himself entirely from the festival and Fyre Media.
Native Bahamians, many of whom worked up to 24-hour days to get the grounds ready in time for the guests, serviced almost the entire festival. Many businesses negotiated contracts out of “good faith” and were never paid once the festival flopped.
Maryann Rolle, who’s quickly become the central voice of the Bahamian victims, catered no less that 1,000 meals for the workers and festival attendees. As the owner of the Exuma Point Resort & Grille, MaryAnn spent more than $50,000 of her own money and ruined her credit in the process.
Since the release of Netflix documentary, executive producer Gabrielle Bluestone shared a GoFundMe link started by Maryann to help recoup her losses. The campaign has raised over $142,000 out of her $123,000 goal.
Maryann’s GoFundMe is still accepting donations. You can donate here.
Another business owner, Mr. Gray Sr., who is owed $70,000 for fencing work he provided, said “I still wonder how these people could come in this country with such a large promotion, 5000 visitors from a foreign country, and no one in the government knows anything about it.”
Former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe told The Tribune “we did all the right things” in regards to tourism’s involvement in Fyre Festival. Large-scale events like these can help improve many Caribbean countries’ economic standing and greatly benefit small and medium-sized businesses. It’s understandable why the government would try their best to make this event happen.
Yet, from the reporting done by The Tribune and the evidence laid out by both documentaries, it seems like there was very little communication between the festival planners, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Bahamian government. So could Bahamians have taken more precaution to ensure their livelihood? Yes, but as MaryAnn Rolle said our culture is built off of good faith. We take people at their word. At the same time, it seemed like Billy McFarland was determined to hold this festival on Great Exuma Island, no matter how unfeasible it was. Exuma’s Regatta was going to be held on the same date (how disrespectful!).
McFarland received six years in federal prison for wire fraud. In addition, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ordered McFarland to pay $26 million in restitution.
So was there any plan to compensate the Bahamian people? How much of this $26 million will go to the Bahamians who worked in good faith? Comment what you think will happen below!
