Fyre Festival's Billy McFarland Talks About Doing A SECOND Festival — Transcript

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1. 0:00Well, the infamous Fyre Festival
2. 0:01promised superstars, luxury, and fine
3. 0:04dining in a Caribbean paradise. Instead,
4. 0:06it became a fiasco that left founder
5. 0:08Billy McFarland sentenced to 6 years in
6. 0:10jail owing $26 million to investors,
7. 0:14which remains unpaid. Here's a reminder
8. 0:16of what's been called the biggest fraud
9. 0:18in music festival history immortalized
10. 0:20in a hit Netflix documentary.
11. 0:23The actual experience exceeds all
12. 0:25expectations and is something that's
13. 0:27hard to put into words.
14. 0:29All these things things that may seem
15. 0:31big and impossible
16. 0:33are not.
17. 0:34It gives people that type of energy.
18. 0:36Island getaway turned disaster.
19. 0:38It became very barbaric.
20. 0:41American rapper Ja Rule is in the
21. 0:43Bahamas with his business partner.
22. 0:44Billy McFarland
23. 0:45is an amazing entrepreneur.
24. 0:47He could convince anyone of pretty much
25. 0:48anything.
26. 0:49They just bought an island.
27. 0:50Pablo Escobar's island. Within 48 hours,
28. 0:55they sold out.
29. 0:56When thousands arrived in the Bahamas
30. 0:57for the Fyre Festival after paying up to
31. 1:00$1,500 for a ticket and $12,000 for a
32. 1:04VIP experience, they found a millennial
33. 1:07nightmare.
34. 1:09It was basically the exact opposite of
35. 1:10everything we were promised.
36. 1:11Prosecutors say cost investors and
37. 1:14customers over $26 million. The promoter
38. 1:17behind the botched Fyre Music Festival
39. 1:20in the Bahamas has been sentenced now to
40. 1:216 years in prison.
41. 1:26Well, Billy McFarland went to prison and
42. 1:27he joins me now. Billy McFarland, thank
43. 1:29you very much indeed for joining me.
44. 1:31Piers, thank you for having me on your
45. 1:33platform. Huge opportunity. Thank you.
46. 1:35So, look, I watched the Netflix
47. 1:37documentary and it was like watching a
48. 1:39slow-moving pileup on a on a freeway for
49. 1:42you, motorway for us. Where it just
50. 1:44seemed pretty obvious quite early on
51. 1:47this was not going to work and the
52. 1:49bigger the hole you dug, the worse
53. 1:52things got. Was that how it felt for
54. 1:54you?
55. 1:55Well, Piers, first, you are braver than
56. 1:57me because I've never watched
57. 1:59documentaries and
58. 2:01still can't get myself to do it, but I
59. 2:03was just so wrong and I'd like to I
60. 2:05think start with telling you what I
61. 2:07thought that I was trying to do.
62. 2:10So, I thought that I was taking these
63. 2:11different people from diverse
64. 2:13backgrounds
65. 2:14and bringing them together through
66. 2:16adventures and experiences.
67. 2:18And when this was happening, it was
68. 2:19almost like I found my little slice of
69. 2:22magic in the world as these people were
70. 2:24forming relationships and sharing ideas.
71. 2:27And I really just want to share this
72. 2:28with everybody and I was just so wrong
73. 2:31in my approach to do that.
74. 2:33Well, hang on. Look, I'm sorry, but your
75. 2:35attempt to make yourself out to be some
76. 2:36magic maker
77. 2:38keen on spreading diversity all sounds
78. 2:40great now, but the truth is you were
79. 2:42trying to fleece someone for cash.
80. 2:44That's why you ended up in prison for so
81. 2:45long. I mean, it was it was a
82. 2:47money-making vehicle. Your intention was
83. 2:49not to
84. 2:50you know, get a lot of happy campers
85. 2:52together and spread love and diversity
86. 2:54and a bit of magic. It was to empty
87. 2:56their wallets, wasn't it?
88. 2:58I was so wrong and
89. 3:01I lost everything I had in the process
90. 3:03and lost the support, the relationships,
91. 3:06and the trust of all of my friends and
92. 3:09all of my investors and all of my team
93. 3:10members. As crazy as it sounds for me
94. 3:13sitting here looking back at all of the
95. 3:15terrible decisions I made,
96. 3:17I truly thought that I was going to pull
97. 3:19off this event. That does not excuse the
98. 3:22lying to investors that I did to try to
99. 3:25get the capital that I thought I needed.
100. 3:27And Piers, I was wrong. I messed up.
101. 3:29I mean, you're planning another festival
102. 3:31now um called Pirate, I think, uh which
103. 3:35is probably quite appropriate. But why
104. 3:36should anybody trust you either with
105. 3:38money as an investment or buying a
106. 3:41ticket to this thing given what happened
107. 3:42before and given you've not paid off all
108. 3:44the people who lost money last time?
109. 3:47Yeah, that's a really good question and
110. 3:48in my mind there's two ways to look at
111. 3:50the Yeah,
112. 3:51in my mind there's two ways to look at
113. 3:53this and I think that one option is is
114. 3:55to essentially crawl in a hole and die
115. 3:58of remorse and I think that's
116. 4:00something a lot of people probably want.
117. 4:03But then how does everybody get paid?
118. 4:05And for me, I need to find pride in my
119. 4:07life by at least trying to right my
120. 4:10wrongs and make it up to everybody that
121. 4:12I hurt.
122. 4:14I mean you went to prison for quite a
123. 4:15long time. What was that experience
124. 4:16like?
125. 4:18Yeah, so served uh around 4 years and I
126. 4:22just kept making it worse and worse upon
127. 4:24myself.
128. 4:25I actually ended up spending 309 days in
129. 4:27solitary confinement. So for the first
130. 4:30period of my life, I was really forced
131. 4:32to sit in time out and reflect on
132. 4:35terrible decisions and try to understand
133. 4:37like what makes me tick as a human
134. 4:39and how I could try to do something
135. 4:41positive moving forward.
136. 4:43I mean look, I don't know you. I I know
137. 4:46what a lot of people have said about
138. 4:47you. It's not flattering as you know. I
139. 4:49obviously I'm aware a lot of people lost
140. 4:51a lot of money and that's a serious
141. 4:52situation. It was a crime for which
142. 4:54you've paid your price and it's a pretty
143. 4:56big price to pay.
144. 4:58Would you categorize yourself as
145. 5:00somebody who is, you know, a criminal
146. 5:02mastermind or a somebody that perhaps
147. 5:05others might say was just a massive
148. 5:07bullshitter on the make who thought he'd
149. 5:09get away with it and unfortunately all
150. 5:12his chips fled from red to black?
151. 5:16I think what just discussed me the most,
152. 5:18Pierre, especially during those 10
153. 5:20months where I had nothing to look at
154. 5:22like, you know, but a concrete wall
155. 5:23myself,
156. 5:25is that I was trying for 6, 7 years to
157. 5:28build and launch startups
158. 5:31and I formed great relationships over
159. 5:33those period and the fact that I took
160. 5:35advantage of those relationships all for
161. 5:37this purpose of trying to be successful
162. 5:39or big or well-known and it was just
163. 5:42disgusting and awful.
164. 5:43What's the one thing you've really
165. 5:44learned about yourself, Billy?
166. 5:48You just can't attach your personal
167. 5:50pride to success or any idea of success.
168. 5:53And it's more about the relationships
169. 5:55and the bond you find along the way. I
170. 5:57was just so insecure and thought that my
171. 5:59personal self-worth would be executing a
172. 6:03big festival that made everybody rich
173. 6:05and happy. And that's just so incredibly
174. 6:06wrong. And it's how I can find that
175. 6:08pride and self-worth in my day-to-day
176. 6:11like regular life.
177. 6:12Do you ever wonder what would have
178. 6:13happened if if it had worked?
179. 6:16Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest
180. 6:18misconceptions. This even if the
181. 6:19festival succeeded, I still would have
182. 6:21gone to jail. Like I lied to investors
183. 6:23to raise the money. So even if people
184. 6:25made money and all the ticket holders
185. 6:28met great people and had the weekend of
186. 6:29their lives, I would have been sitting
187. 6:30in jail for years. So there's just no
188. 6:32there's no excuse, Piers.
189. 6:34Well, and to those who, you know, you
190. 6:36owe money to, who are disgusted you're
191. 6:38having another festival, what what do
192. 6:39you say finally to them?
193. 6:42And once again, it's like I need to find
194. 6:44pride in somewhere in life. And my
195. 6:46pride, hopefully in 60 years from now
196. 6:49when I'm I on my deathbed, is that I
197. 6:51spent the majority of my adult life
198. 6:53trying to write my wrongs. So I'm going
199. 6:55to go out there and work. I'm going to
200. 6:57work honestly. I can't promise that I'm
201. 6:59going to succeed, but I can promise I'm
202. 7:01getting help where I need it and trying
203. 7:03to focus on my skill set. And whatever I
204. 7:05do will go towards paying everybody
205. 7:07back.
206. 7:07Okay. Well, on a one positive note,
207. 7:09you've got the right name for the
208. 7:10festival, fire, cuz that's what it went
209. 7:13all up in. Uh Billy McFarland, thank you
210. 7:15for joining me. I appreciate it.