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Ja Rule's So-Called Luxury Music Festival Turned Out To Be A Hot Mess

Fyre Festival, which was partly organized by rapper Ja Rule and promoted by supermodels on social media, was ultimately postponed.

Ja Rule's So-Called Luxury Music Festival Turned Out To Be A Hot Mess
Fyre Festival
By Katherine Biek
SMS
April 28, 2017

The Fyre Festival was billed as a two-weekend luxury music concert in the Bahamas. 

But the event, which was organized by rapper Ja Rule and promoted by supermodels such as Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin, turned out to be anything but luxurious.

Guests, who paid anywhere from $1,000 to $250,000 depending on amenities, arrived Thursday to find the festival in complete disarray. Camping tents were set up on a beach, catered food consisted of bread and cheese, and security was slim to none.

"[The beds are] not that uncomfortable, but the tents are so poorly made that they'd blow over in a second if there was any wind or rain," a festival attendee told Billboard.

"This was a scam for sure," another festival goer told KTVT.

Fyre Festival released a vague statement early Friday on social media saying the event had been postponed. 

The attendees that were already in the Bahamas then spent hours waiting at the airport for a plane back to the U.S. According to social media, they were reportedly locked inside the airport while waiting to depart.

Prior to this weekend, there were some signs that not everything was going as planned.

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The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that organizers had yet to pay some performers and weren't providing guests with "logistical details."

And Blink-182, which was scheduled to be one of Fyre Festival's headliners, dropped out Thursday afternoon.

Festival organizers said on Twitter that they are "working to refund" tickets.