3 things that have happened since people watched The Fyre Festival documentaries

Cape Town – It was the Spring of 2017 and all hell broke loose on social media when a festival - that hired influencers to spread the word about its luxury appeal – left hundreds of people stranded on an island in the Bahamas.

Since then the festival’s mastermind Billy McFarland has admitted to swindling millions and millions of dollars from unwitting investors and has now been sentenced to six years in prison.

Now, after the internet has had time to process, two documentaries – one by Hulu and one by Netflix – both premiered within days of each other, resulting in several ripple effects.

Netflix's documentary titled Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened was made by Fuck Jerry, the marketing company behind the festival's marketing.

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR THAT DOCCIE HERE:

Hulu's documentary is titled Fyre Fraud and the streaming company reportedly paid Billy McFarland to appear in it.

SEE THE TRAILER FOR THAT HERE:

We’ve unpacked three of things that happened and rounded them up for you.

HERE ARE 3 THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED SINCE PEOPLE WATCHED THE FYRE FESTIVAL DOCUMENTARIES:

1. A GoFundMe campaign for the doomed festival’s beleaguered caterers:

On a GoFundMe page attributed to Elvis and Maryann Rolle the couple who catered the festival wrote, “Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all prepared and delivered by Exuma Point to Coco Plum Beach, and Roker’s Point where the main events were scheduled to take place. Organisers would also visit my Exuma Point location to enjoy the prepared meals.”

In Netflix’s documentary on the festival, Maryann explained that she lost at least $50 000 after giving meals to attendees and organisers of the festival even after it was clear that it was a complete failure. The GoFundMe page’s stated goal is $123 000 and at the time of writing it had amassed more than that goal, totalling $128 330.

2. A Tweetspree by festival co-founder Ja Rule:

In both documentaries rapper Ja Rule was focused on heavily as he founded the festival along with Billy McFarland, resulting in viewers firing spicy tweets at the popular artist for his role in the fiasco. As a result, Ja Rule tweeted his responses saying, “I love how ppl watch a doc and think they have all the answers,” and “I had an amazing vision to create a festival like NO OTHER!!! I would NEVER SCAM or FRAUD anyone what sense does that make???”He then went on to call out both of the companies behind the respective doccies, writing, “Hulu PAID BILLY!!! That money should have went to the ppl in the Bahamas,(sic).” Adding, “Netflix PAID fuck Jerry who also did all the promo for the festival. the docs clearly have Billy at fault but let’s blame the rapper lmao ok.”

SEE HIGHLIGHTS OF THAT TWEETSPREE HERE:

3. Water cooler conversations by viewers on social media:

A lot people have had a lot to say about the festival, it’s founders and the subsequent documentaries. Twitter has been set ablaze with opinions from a slew of viewers.

HERE’S A LOOK AT SOME OF WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: