Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland talks about life in jail, fyre festival, and what's next — Transcript

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1. 0:00Billy what's up brother hey so how you
2. 0:03doing man good good so what have you
3. 0:04been up to obviously got this new thing
4. 0:05going on yeah what's next with it I
5. 0:07think I'm super nervous because I
6. 0:09haven't had an energy drink in like 10
7. 0:10years yeah so I have a heart attack on
8. 0:12this set what was your first meal after
9. 0:13that obviously you get out like what was
10. 0:15your person you're excited for to have
11. 0:16Costco is shrimp I got picked up in
12. 0:18Detroit I had to drive to Brooklyn for
13. 0:19like 12 hours get out of here so how was
14. 0:21it was it okay was it it was rough it
15. 0:23was rough in there yeah I mean was it
16. 0:25like were people nice kids you have some
17. 0:27are you friends with somebody really
18. 0:28really cool people but like 10 months in
19. 0:30solitary was like totally totally brutal
20. 0:33yeah were you friends with the situation
21. 0:34uh man I saw some stories I don't know
22. 0:37if that was true we were in the same
23. 0:38jail for
24. 0:40close to five or six months and then I
25. 0:42got in trouble yeah and you know shipped
26. 0:44to where some worst places what did you
27. 0:46learn from being there like is there
28. 0:47anything you learned from being there
29. 0:48that you kind of just like a new hobby
30. 0:50or something that you're more interested
31. 0:51in or you start reading some good books
32. 0:53so much like write a ton and I mean
33. 0:55definitely have some fun today I think
34. 0:57like just tell stories whether it's like
35. 0:58good bad funny crazy and just all the
36. 1:01lessons learned so yeah excited to chat
37. 1:03with you guys what's next for you though
38. 1:04what's uh like obviously obviously
39. 1:06you've got this new company going on how
40. 1:08did that come about yeah it's all about
41. 1:10pirate and it's about rebuilding trusts
42. 1:12paying people back and like getting back
43. 1:14to what I'm good at and hoping making a
44. 1:16bigger impact have you run into people
45. 1:17and how is the people how is it like on
46. 1:18the street when you run into people it's
47. 1:20been fun I think like the support has
48. 1:22been better than I expected but you know
49. 1:24still getting out there it's been over
50. 1:25only two months has a lot of friends
51. 1:26like how's your like the people around
52. 1:28like you were friends with before like
53. 1:30how was that turn around
54. 1:32lost a lot of like really close friends
55. 1:34and then some who I never expected and
56. 1:36they were still around so it's been it's
57. 1:38been a process yeah yeah there was a new
58. 1:40Festival going on recently with another
59. 1:42they really they compared it to the
60. 1:44firecraft to your Festival what do you
61. 1:47what are your thoughts on accessible you
62. 1:48saw the guys hasn't been around they're
63. 1:50trying to get in touch with this guy
64. 1:51have you heard about this stuff no it's
65. 1:53all right
66. 1:54um do you want to get back into the
67. 1:55music industry and try to put together
68. 1:56these festivals at all or no I have a
69. 1:58concept for like connecting different
70. 2:00people and a festival can definitely be
71. 2:01a part of it I think our idea is a
72. 2:03little bit more unique this time so you
73. 2:05know we'll break it today we'll do a man
74. 2:06I feel like you're in good spirits you
75. 2:08know and like it's just good to see you
76. 2:10like thank you getting back like
77. 2:11obviously it sucked but like you know it
78. 2:14was just a shitty situation finally yeah
79. 2:16you know you messed up and I think
80. 2:17that's really uh cool that you you know
81. 2:20you may end up and now you're just like
82. 2:21all right now I got to get back like I
83. 2:23can't sit for that like I I'm better
84. 2:25than that like it's not gonna Define me
85. 2:27so I respect like you're manned up and
86. 2:29now you're just trying to come back and
87. 2:30bounce back I think the problem is that
88. 2:32like people expect you to just do
89. 2:34nothing and it's like do I want to work
90. 2:35behind a desk for 80 hours a week and
91. 2:37not pay anybody back or do you want to
92. 2:39go for it and like be like hey I'm gonna
93. 2:41go for it but I'm gonna do it honestly
94. 2:42and why not take a chance to try to make
95. 2:44it right is it harder to get meetings
96. 2:45with people or is it easier because
97. 2:47people you're obviously you're a
98. 2:48celebrity and you know so how is it like
99. 2:50getting meetings with people to do new
100. 2:51business I mean there are certainly
101. 2:52people who just like quickly say [ __ ]
102. 2:54off but I also think it's like a sad
103. 2:56world where people want attention yeah
104. 2:57so the whole media angle certainly opens
105. 3:00up as many doors so you're getting
106. 3:02meetings because for sure that's cool
107. 3:03it's kind of [ __ ] up but it is what it
108. 3:05is
109. 3:06you look good though brother you're like
110. 3:08you seem like you're gonna have to
111. 3:09solitary confinement for what we're
112. 3:10trying to do a podcast your own podcast
113. 3:12yes and how'd they find out I called
114. 3:14from like the jail pay phone and as soon
115. 3:16as the trailer came out they grabbed me
116. 3:18and how it's done so it's been like
117. 3:19years and years in the making so finally
118. 3:21today like we're going in and like let's
119. 3:23do it yeah we'll talk through all the
120. 3:25[ __ ] ups but I have like you know five
121. 3:27years of stories to share that no one's
122. 3:28heard yet I hear you buddy