What do these 5 events have in common with the Fyre Festival?
- From Caroline Calloway’s ‘creativity workshops’ to the Atomic Wings Superbowl and New York City Pizza Festival, these events all flopped
- WinterFest and XO Festival are slammed as a ‘complete scan’ and ‘super shady’
The image of a cold cheese sandwich tucked into a polystyrene takeaway box will always remind people of the broken promises of 2017’s Fyre Festival, which has become one of the most infamous failed events of the decade.
The “exclusive” three-day party, which turned into a nightmare that left attendees scrambling to get away, resulted in a six-year prison sentence for creator Billy McFarland after he admitted to defrauding investors out of US$26 million. The festival has become a reference point for many other schemes whose expectations fell well short.
Here is a selection of events that have been compared to Fyre Festival:
Caroline Calloway’s ‘creativity workshops’
27-year-old Instagram influencer and writer Caroline Calloway came under scrutiny in January after a viral Twitter thread claimed that her US$165 “creativity workshops” were a “scam”.
It transpired that Calloway was totally unprepared for the tour she had scheduled: venues weren’t secured, planned activities never happened, and she was reportedly even considering asking people to bring their own food despite promising a salad lunch.
Her supporters said she was simply “in over her head”, but others drew comparisons to the Fyre Festival.
Calloway listened to her critics and cancelled her tour before reviving it a day later.