Hacker News Reader

Comment by 55555 | Hacker News Reader

Watch the Netflix documentary, and pay close attention to what he does after his failed festival. Either he's a scammer or Netflix is, as he seems to be running a new business where he sells tickets to events he doesn't have tickets for, and for which he has no way of getting them, and then ghosts the buyers.

I think he didn't really set out to defraud anyone, but he has an incredible ego and sense of entitlement, and he got used to living a jetsetting lifestyle and didn't want to downgrade, so he defrauded people (in his newer business, after the festival). Given how naturally he did it, I'd be surprised if he hadn't been running ticket scams on and off for years.

View on HN

What the Netflix documentary leaves out, significantly, is the involvement of the "fuckjerry" advertising/PR agency people in both promoting the festival and then later contributing to the documentary itself.

google "fuckjerry fyre festival"

https://decider.com/2019/01/15/fyre-festival-fuck-jerry/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2019/10/24/...

It's been a while, but I thought the Hulu documentary included a decent amount about fuckjerry. Might be worth comparing.

I'm pretty sure the Hulu one was made by fuckjerry. That's why they were a prominent interviewee during it and also profiting again.

I only saw the Hulu one, and I didn't remember it being very kind to fuckjerry. According to Wikipedia, Jerry Productions (aka fuckjerry) was the Netflix one. Kinda glad I didn't see it now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyre_(film)

Oh thanks. Honestly I've always confused the two so thanks for clarifying which one was made by them. I've only seen that one to be honest.

I also know one of the two also did a paid interview with Billy McFaland so it was another instance of him profiting off this. The other declining to have him due to principle. I again forget which.

Agreed, I was disappointed that I watched the one supporting that media company.

I'm pretty sure I saw evidence or at least rumor that fuckjerry knew it was going to be a colossal fuck up and continued along with it just for money and the making of movie.

I remember this being a controversy when the documentaries came out. I ended up watching the Hulu one when it came out, and was underwhelmed having already seen the Netflix one (which was quite well done). I suspect that this "controversy" was simply an attempt to get publicity for the Hulu doc (it succeeded on me, at least).

It's not surprising at all that a PR/advertising agency would have a lot of footage from the event they were attempting to promote.

Yeah this basically matches with my impression. You can watch maybe 3/4 of the netflix doc and believe it's plausible they didn't intend to defraud anyone, and then you witness the behavior in the last 1/4 and it's clear there was intentional, serious criminal fraud.

That is the one I saw. I kinda think that he knew he was screwed and leaned in to the persona he thought he now had curated. Its one of those things where he knew he was going to jail(or really was that oblivious) and just decided to burn it down and try the persona...

> Either he's a scammer or Netflix is

From what I understand, Making a Murderer is basically one big lie-by-omission so my faith in other Netflix funded documentaries to value truth over sensation is quite low.

- https://time.com/4167699/netflix-making-a-murderer-evidence-...

That entire article is citing the now-defamed prosecuting attorney Ken kratz. He was caught sending inappropriate texts to minors shortly after the show aired, as well as lying/hiding about some evidence from the case. I wouldn't put too much credence in him.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com