Last Friday, Billy McFarland, the 25-year-old founder of the disastrous Fyre Festival, told his shell-shocked employees that their paychecks covering the past two weeks would not be coming. Nor would he be firing them, a prerequisite for unemployment benefits in most states. Instead, McFarland offered to let his dozen-or-so employees stay on in unpaid roles, where they could work to grow the business to a place where they might get paid again.
The meeting, audio of which was obtained by VICE News, wrapped up weeks of uncertainty for the employees of Fyre Media, the company behind Fyre Festival, whose primary job had been building a celebrity and talent booking app the festival was intended to promote. Rapper and Fyre Media co-founder Ja Rule was on the grim conference call, but his role was that of a listener.
“I’m on the phone, but I can barely hear you all because of this fucking hum,” Ja Rule said.
McFarland kicked off the meeting by cutting to the chase: Nobody would be getting paid, but they were free to keep working regardless. “After conferring with our counsel and all financial people, unfortunately we are not able to proceed with payroll,” McFarland said. “We’re not firing anyone; we’re just letting you know that there will be no payroll in the short term.”
