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Ja Rule Responds To Fyre Fest Docs, Plus How You Can Help

By Kristy Puchko | Film | January 21, 2019 |

By Kristy Puchko | Film | January 21, 2019 |


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Over the weekend, the debate raged online over the two rival Fyre Fest docs, Netflix’s FYRE and Hulu’s Fyre Fraud. But no matter which documentary you watched, Fyre Fest co-founder Ja Rule doesn’t come off great! At best, he was duped by Billy McFarland into being the celebrity face of a catastrophic music festival that became a national punchline. At worst, he was knowingly complicit in the fest’s fraud, or as he prefers to call it in one damning scene, “false advertising.” The rapper, who chose not to participate in either doc, has taken to Twitter to respond. A lot.

Because Ja Rule was tweeting in earnest about the docs, several users asked him to speak on Fyre Fest’s most sympathetic victim. Restaurant owner Maryann Rolle, a Great Exuma caterer who was fleeced by the fest for more than $100,000. When McFarland and Fyre employees fled the Bahamas, they left many local workers unpaid, including Rolle. In FYRE, Rolle cries as she recounts how McFarland’s betrayal led to her using her life savings to pay as many workers as she could.

Here’s the series of responses Rule made. See if you can tell when his PR team likely reached out.

Rule’s sympathies right now seem to be entirely Twitter and Instagram related, which is ironic since those social media apps were where Fyre went viral for better then worse. But there’s some good news for Rolle; not everyone’s sympathies are limited to lip service.

In the wake of FYRE’s release, she’s started a GoFundMe campaign, which has already pulled in more than her $123,000 goal. Notably, $20,000 of that came from Elliot Tebele, creator of Fuck Jerry and executive producer of FYRE. According to Tebele, that was all the money his company made from doing Fyre Fest’s marketing.

But that’s not all. Fuck Jerry donated $10k, while MATTE Projects, who co-produced the Fyre Fest promo vid along with Fuck Jerry, donated another $5k. And Pajiba has confirmed FYRE director Chris Smith, who brought Rolle’s story to the world’s attention, donated another $4,000.

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Fyre Fraud made the argument that Fuck Jerry was complicit in McFarland’s deceptions. Now, Fuck Jerry is throwing down the gauntlet, challenging those who profited from Fyre Fest to help those who suffered because of it. We’ll be watching to see which musical acts or Instagram influencers respond.

source: GoFundMe