Fyre Festival organizers are being sued for $100 million over their canceled two-weekend concert in the Bahamas, which was widely panned online.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, celebrity trial lawyer Mark Geragos filed the suit electronically on Sunday, April 30, on behalf of plaintiff Daniel Jung. Find out more in the video above, and detailed below.
Jung is seeking $5 million in damages, but the suit seeks a minimum of $100 million due to more than 150 other anticipated plaintiffs. The filing alleges fraud, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
As previously reported, up to 6,000 festivalgoers were expected to attend the big bash, which cost anywhere from $1,000 to $125,000 for group packages. When they arrived, however, tents were dismantled, expected gourmet food was switched out for cheese sandwiches and some were left with no accommodations at all, according to multiple reports.
“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 court documents read. “Festivalgoers survived on bare rations, little more than bread and a slice of cheese, and tried to escape the elements in the only shelter provided by defendants: small clusters of ‘FEMA tents,’ exposed on a sand bar, that were soaked and battered by wind and rain.”
Festival cofounder Ja Rule said in a statement that the event was not a scam. Organizers also issued a lengthy apology on April 29.
“This is an unacceptable guest experience and the Fyre team takes full responsibility for the issues that occurred,” the statement read. “Everyone was very concerned for our guests. They needed a place to sleep and everyone did their absolute best to rebuild. We took everyone to the beach and built as many tents and beds as fast as possible, but as more guests arrived, we were simply in over our heads.”
Fyre Festival head Billy McFarland spoke out in a separate interview with Rolling Stone. “The weather unfortunately delayed flights and made them run into each other in terms of being close to when a lot of people were arriving. That was unfortunately something we had no control of, but it made things unacceptable for guests and we feel bad for it,” he said. “We thought we were making timeframes that were correct. We were a little naïve in thinking for the first time we could do this ourselves. Next year, we will definitely start earlier. The reality is, we weren’t experienced enough to keep up.”
