It's been more than two years since the epic social media schadenfreude that was Fyre Festival, but the drama and fallout is still going strong.
According to E! News, several influencers and artists associated with the festival are officially being sued for their role in promoting the event. Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, Migos, Blink-182, Lily Yachty, and Pusha T have all been named in complaints, which were reportedly filed this week in New York's U.S. Bankruptcy Court by the event's trustee, Gregory Messer.
The aim of the suits is to recover money from talent agencies, performers, vendors, and other entities that were paid to promote and carry out the infamously disastrous festival.
According to the suit, Kendall was paid $275,000 for a single social media post promoting Fyre Festival and, as Messer points out, Kendall's 'gram didn't make it clear that she was paid to promote the festival. According to Messer's suit, this means that Kendall's post and its reference to her "G.O.O.D. Music Family," "intentionally led certain members of the public and ticket purchasers to believe" that her brother-in-law, Kanye West, who founded the G.O.O.D. music label, would perform at Fyre Fest.
"This conduct demonstrates a clear lack of good faith on Jenner's part," Messer says.
But Kendall isn't the only notable figure being hit with a new round of Fyre drama.
In a separate bankruptcy lawsuit, Messer says that Fyre Media paid DNA Model Management, which represents Emily Ratajkowski, $299,000 to promote the festival and that Emily "made at least one" social media post promoting Fyre Fest—again, without making it clear to her followers that she was engaging in #SponCon.
Messer's legal filings also indicate that International Creative Management was paid $350,000 for Migos, Lil Yachty and Rae Sremmurd to perform at the festival, while Creative Artists Agency was paid $500,000 for Blink-182 and Nue Agency was paid $730,000 to secure Pusha T, Desiigner, and Tyga for the lineup.
Billy McFarland, who masterminded the failed and apparently fraudulent event, plead guilty to wire fraud charges and is currently in prison, serving a 6-year sentence. Ja Rule, who was also involved in the in inception of the festival, has not been charged.
At his sentencing, Billy McFarland shared the following statement:
In April, Kendall discussed her part in promoting Fyre Festival during an interview with The New York Times and maintained that she makes every effort to be responsible and thoughtful when deciding which brands and events to promote.
"You get reached out to by people to, whether it be to promote or help or whatever, and you never know how these things are going to turn out, sometimes it’s a risk," she said. "I definitely do as much research as I can, but sometimes there isn’t much research you can do because it’s a starting brand and you kind of have to have faith in it and hope it will work out the way people say it will. You never really know what’s going to happen."
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