Netflix
Last month marked the sixth anniversary of the unmitigated debacle that was Fyre Festival, the event that saw real and aspiring influencers live out their own version of Lord of the Flies when the disastrous gathering devolved into chaos.
Fyre Festival spawned multiple documentaries and a massive lawsuit that saw the victims who were scammed by mastermind Billy McFarland receive a fairly underwhelming sum of money for their troubles.
McFarland was ultimately sentenced to six years in prison (he served four before being released in March of 2022) and order to repay the $26 million he bilked out of the investors and attendees who fell victim to his scheme.
However, the people in charge of collecting the money have had some trouble putting a dent in that number. Some funds were recouped courtesy of the unsold merch that was auctioned off in 2019, but the amount generated were still a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of cash that hasn’t been recouped.
McFarland wasted no time dreaming up some new ways to make money after he completed his sentence. In 2022, he unveiled a high-stakes worldwide scavenger hunt, and he has repeatedly teased he has a Fyre Festival follow-up in the works.
Any money he makes off of those ventures would undoubtedly end up in the pockets of the people he screwed over, and it appears he’s dreamed up another idea that could help him pay some restitution.
According to Complex, McFarland recently said he’d be down to participate in a celebrity boxing match and revealed he already has an opponent in mind: Ja Rule, who was instrumental in planning the ill-fated festival but was legally cleared of any wrongdoing.
McFarland said money generated by the event could be used to pay back the various locals in the Bahamas who were never paid the $350,000 they’re still owed for the work they did in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to help it come together.
I don’t know how many people would be willing to pay money to see McFarland get punched in the face, but if history is any indication, 50 Cent would shell out a lot to see Ja Rule get clocked.