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Fyre Fest’s Billy McFarland Admits What We Knew: He’s a Liar

McFarland also says he loves shrimp.

Convicted event planner Billy McFarland admits he lied to investors who funded Fyre Festival, the disastrous multimillion-dollar island retreat he organized with Ja Rule in 2017, according to a new interview recorded from Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio. “I knowingly lied to them to raise money for the festival," McFarland told radio host Jordan Harbinger. “Yes. And that’s what the crime was. The crime was inexcusably lying about the status of the company to get the money I thought I needed for the festival.” McFarland is currently serving a six-year sentence for fraud related to the festival, which stranded influencers in FEMA tents, generating endless meme-fodder and material for two documentaries. According to the host, McFarland's interview was unsanctioned by authorities and landed him in solitary confinement. McFarland maintained he thought he would pull the event off. “I legitimately thought the festival was going to be executed,” he said. The interview addresses myriad other topics, including McFarland's feelings toward seafood: “I love shrimps.”