DJ reveals why she turned down offer to play Fyre Fest 2

In the run-up to the second edition of Fyre Fest 2, a DJ has opened up about why she turned down the offer to perform there.

• READ MORE: The 10 most WTF moments from Netflix’s jaw-dropping Fyre Festival documentary

The update comes as Billy McFarland, the disgraced festival organiser who was behind the first tumultuous edition of Fyre Fest, announced that the event would be making its “return” from May 30 to June 2.

Already, the plans for the second instalment of the festival have been far from smooth. Initially, McFarland said the event was going to take place at Isla Mujeres in Mexico, although later went back on these claims after the Isla Mujeres tourist board denied having any “knowledge of this event, nor contact with any person or company about it.”

It is now said to be taking place at Playa Del Carmen, although recent reports saw officials for the Mexican city deny any involvement.

Now, after McFarland shared a timeline of events to try and prove that the event is going ahead, a DJ has spoken out about being contacted for the event, and explained why she turned down the opportunity.

Francesca Keller, who performs under the name DJ Donna Francesca, spoke to ABC‘s Good Morning America and said she was contacted after playing various clubs in New York City.

“Fyre Festival, the account, DM’d me and asked me if I wanted to play their festival,” she told the outlet. “He basically framed it as a bunch of beach clubs that they’re taking over, so I asked a bunch of questions.”

“He seemed surprised to hear so many questions from me. He told me that none of the other artists have been giving him any pushback,” she continued, then going on to explain that she hadn’t heard of any of the other artists he supposedly has lined up.

“My theory is that if the festival even happens, if they can get this amount of money, it’s going to be just a really chill, boring little beach club moment to some people. I don’t think it’s going to be anything interesting and that would be a waste of my time.”

Further doubt about Fyre Fest 2 arose earlier this month, when it was revealed that the permit McFarland has obtained – as seen in his timeline of events – only allows for a 12-hour listening party that must have fewer than 300 people.

According to the documents, it seems that the permit only allows for a maximum of 250 people, can only run for a total of 12hours (between midnight to 4am each day between May 30 and June 1), and does not allow for any live performances.

When McFarland first said that Fyre Festival was making its comeback, he shared at a press conference that it would allow for 1,800 guests and see live performances from 40 artists.

Further evidence that Fyre Fest 2 isn’t happening comes as tickets have been removed from the official ticketing partner, Soldout.com. Before they were taken off the site, tickets were sold for between $1,400 and $25,000 (£1,081-£19,305), while premium packages were priced as high as $1.1million (£850,000).

No talent has been announced for the rumoured event yet, although former NFL star Antonio Brown claimed that he had been booked for the festival. Ahead of the rumoured second instalment, a former Fyre Festival investor Andy King also warned of “a lot of red flags” over the event’s planned reboot.

The botched festival Fyre Fest was originally developed eight years ago set to run over two weekends on a private beach in the Bahamas. It was revealed to be fraudulent once punters arrived on the scene, with inadequate conditions and a lack of food and water.

The debacle was then captured in the now-iconic Netflix documentary FYRE.

The original edition in 2017 was reportedly set to include performances from Blink-182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Migos, Pusha T, Tyga and more, and the founder was released from prison in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud. 

The post DJ reveals why she turned down offer to play Fyre Fest 2 appeared first on NME.