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Fyre Festival Founder Billy McFarland Conducts First Interview Since Release from Jail

Should post-prison Billy be forgiven?

Credit: Web Summit/Wikimedia

Five years after the disastrous Fyre Festival and only seven months out of prison, Billy McFarland is making headlines again. This time it is for his first interview since his release from prison in May of this year where he sat down with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America. Billy sounds like his usual robotic self and doesn’t really sound all that sincere in his “apologies” but this writer will leave that up to you, the reader, to decide.

This writer wrote about McFarland last year when the documentary came out. In case you missed it, here’s a memory refresher.

Coming back to the present, McFarland’s new interview leaves this writer feeling unsure whether he really feels any true remorse for what he did to everyone involved. And he only talks about the investors, with a few mentions of his other staff, but overwhelmingly he talks about how he let the investors down. Seems like the people you invited there and put through the hell of it all should be getting a mention and an apology too. McFarland also sounds robotic and flat, there is no true emotion in his words or in his facial expressions. He also repeats the same answers several times, that’s more of a PR thing though so that’s not surprising.

Watch The Interview And Judge For Yourself

Credit: Good Morning America/YouTube
The famous disaster tents. Image: Eleven 11/YouTube.

Billy also went on a podcast interview with Full Send Podcast and had this to say about what he feels guilty about:

I lied to investors to get money and like morally, ethically as a human, like totally the most f***ed up part. But the worst like business decision was time. I was kind of caught up in this mindset that like, we have to go really fast. And the downside is there’s great artists in a beautiful location, but it’s not perfect. I messed up. I was so driven by this desperate desire to prove people right. I had these early investors, backers, employees, and I think I was just so insecure that I thought the only way to prove myself to them was to succeed and that led me down this terrible path of bad decisions. I think the hardest thing for me is the trust that I violated… whether it was friends, investors, or employees, people gave up a lot to try and make this happen. How do I call them now and look them in the eye when I let them down? I just really should have cancelled everything and stopped lying.

Billy McFarland

Also, what are his plans for getting back all of the investors’ money? There is no mention of that. There are lawsuits pending so those should be a slam dunk for money for the victims but he personally makes no mention of that. Towards the end of the interview, there is footage of him starting a new company/brand. So, how much has he really learned from this epic failure? Not much it seems.

Apologies and then actions should be all he focuses on but clearly, he’s already trying to reinvent himself. Not that his “apologies” really sound sincere or anything more than just words coming out of his mouth. Even the two stints in solitary in prison don’t seem like they did much to really reform him. At 30 years old, he has done a lot of wrongs and has a lot of making up to do and relationships to mend. Only time will tell whether this will happen or not.

So, what will keep the Billy McFarlands of the world from doing this or worse? Have there been any lessons learned? Hopefully, there have been. There are some insights here.

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Hi! I'm Amber. Cars, food, TV, books, and writing are all things I enjoy. Put me on a beach somewhere and I'll be the happiest version of myself. Thanks for reading my articles, enjoy! :)

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