Fyre Festival, Ja Rule and tech bro Billy McFarland’s inaugural luxury festival that turned out to be anything but, was already a lawsuit in the making. Now, just days after Fyre Festival descended into chaos, with attendees claiming that their pricey tickets bought them a weekend getaway to a “FEMA camp†instead of a Bahamas oasis (the festival was subsequently canceled), the concertgoers are suing the festival’s organizers for fraud, breach of contract, and negligence. Celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos has filed a $100 million class-action lawsuit on behalf of at least one attendee, with the hopes that more who went to Fyre Festival will take their outrage (and more of their disposable income) to court and add their names to the list of plaintiffs.
The lawsuit claims that Ja Rule and McFarland had known for months that their festival was unequipped to accommodate such an ambitious and costly excursion — an allegation that festival workers have already supported — but lied about it. The suit also accuses the organizers of warning the celebrities they got to promote the festival not to attend, as has previously been reported. The suit’s biggest complaint, however, still revolves around how the concertgoers were mistreated once they got to the Bahamas (if they even made it there):
“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.â€
Over the weekend, McFarland took partial responsibility for the festival’s failings, saying that his team “wasn’t experienced enough†and the festival’s Bahamian location of Exumas didn’t have the proper infrastructure to support the festival. (TMZ also reports that the Bahamas may sue for loss of money; the festival site is currently on “lockdown†by the government.) As of Sunday, Ja Rule said that all remaining festivalgoers had been safely transported off the island and that all attendees will be issued a full refund as well as free tickets to next year’s already announced Fyre Festival.