The previous social media designer for Fyre Pageant says social media is fueling the idolization of dangerous actors and scammers, particularly naming Fyre Pageant creator Billy McFarland, infamous rip-off socialite Anna Delvey Sorokin and UnitedHealthcare CEO homicide suspect Luigi Mangione as prime examples.
Oren Aks spoke with Fox Information Digital after Fyre Pageant 2, a do-over model of the unique Fyre Pageant that failed in 2017, was postponed simply weeks earlier than it was scheduled to happen in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, between Could 30 and June 2.
Oren Aks, who was employed with Jerry Media when he did graphic design and social media technique work for Fyre Pageant in 2017, informed Fox Information Digital that, within the age of social media, the general public makes icons out of con artists and criminals like Delvey and Mangione.
McFarland isn’t any exception, he stated.
“We look at them like they’re iconic, like, ‘Oh what’s she wearing to court?’ And … at a certain point, you’re just more obsessed with them as this narrative that you’ve built rather than who they actually are. … If you met Billy, you wouldn’t be impressed,” Aks stated.
Aks added that the general public, particularly the American public, doesn’t discuss concerning the success tales of millionaire and billionaire enterprise moguls in the identical approach the general public discusses scammers and “money grubbers,” notably on social media.
“It used to be … this inspirational route you would take in your career to kind of move up a ladder or earn a living and buy a house or something. Now, we vilify those people, and we glorify the bad, the scammy, the evil, and we look at those people as heroes,” Aks stated.
“Like style icons or freedom fighters or whatever other imaginary title you want to assign them. And I think … it’s very worrying as a societal shift. … Why are we doing this?”
Aks added that America has constructed up the thought “that you have to fail big to win big, or you have try big to succeed.”
“And they’re almost kind of like this never-ending train wreck. … It’s what fuels the internet,” he stated. “That’s why people care about this Luigi Mangione guy. In what universe are we living in that this is a relevant story to glorify these people as the image of success? And … there’ll be a thousand more. And it’s truly an American story.”
Aks stated he was excited concerning the Fyre Pageant undertaking in 2017 as a result of he had a background working within the music business and was keen about music festivals. The occasion and McFarland promised attendees who paid hundreds for tickets an expensive music pageant set within the Bahamas however delivered a glorified campsite on the island as an alternative.
There was “writing on the wall” earlier than the pageant started that ought to have indicated the occasion can be a catastrophe, from bank cards bouncing to Fyre Pageant’s companions being omitted of the loop on logistical planning, Aks stated.
He recalled the second he knew issues have been going south.
“When we arrived, the point where it really hit me was actually … going over this hill and kind of descending into the valley where the beach area, where the festival was taking place, and seeing the tents and the actual media center stage area and … nothing was there,” he stated.
“In my brain, the logistics didn’t work out, but I just assumed that’s just not my territory. I’m the graphic designer. I’m sure they’ve got like an architect or … someone dealing with that. But then I saw the FEMA or the U.N.-style tents, and that was the moment it all hit.”
After the 2017 Fyre Pageant’s failure, it went viral on social media when Hulu and Netflix printed documentaries concerning the failed seashore bash, making the #fyrefraud hashtag and a photograph of the strewn-together sandwiches served on the pageant go viral on the time.
The pageant reached a settlement with 277 ticket holders in 2021, when it was ordered to pay every recipient an award of $7,220.
Fyre Pageant 2 has since been postponed, and McFarland introduced this week he’s promoting the Fyre model.
“We have decided the best way to accomplish our goals is to sell the FYRE Festival brand, including its trademarks, IP, digital assets, media reach, and cultural capital – to an operator that can fully realize its vision,” McFarland wrote in an announcement posted to Instagram Wednesday.
McFarland stated the Fyre model “deserves a team with the scale, experience, and infrastructure to realize its full potential.”
