4.6 • 884 Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
When Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, and Bella Hadid signed up to promote a scorching new music festival, they had no idea the flaming mess they were really in for. Entrepreneur Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule collabed on the notorious Fyre Festival, a disaster that cost millions, almost got festival workers killed or kidnapped, and is forever burned into flop history.
Comedians Laci Mosley (Scam Goddess, A Black Lady Sketch Show) and Lauren Ashley Smith (Grown-ish, A Black Lady Sketch Show) join Misha to help us roast Billy McFarland and his cheese sandwich schemes.
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0:00.0 | Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free. |
0:05.3 | Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. |
0:20.0 | It's April 3rd of 2017, and thousands of young people are getting ready for a music festival |
0:27.1 | later that month. |
0:28.9 | The promise is extraordinary. |
0:31.4 | A private island in the Bahamas, huge acts like Migos, Major Laser, and Blink 182, |
0:38.3 | five-star cuisine and luxury villas. |
0:41.1 | Attendees would frolic with models and NFL players in the sparkling blue water |
0:46.5 | while jet skis criss-cross in the distance. |
0:50.2 | This would be a brand- new festival called Firefest. |
0:55.9 | What could possibly go wrong? |
0:59.6 | Well, behind the scenes, things are very much going wrong. |
1:04.4 | According to leaked emails obtained by Mike.com, the festival's five-star caterer had dropped |
1:10.6 | out, and festival employee Lily Villanueva |
1:13.7 | found another looming disaster. The bathrooms. She'd just sent her boss the numbers of how many |
1:20.3 | portable bathrooms were needed. Industry professionals agreed that 20 trailers plus |
1:26.1 | several shower units would suffice. Her boss had another idea. |
1:31.5 | He responded by suggesting they cut that number in half. People can just wait longer, right? |
1:38.1 | Now, Lily knows this would be a disaster. She writes back to point out that people will rely on these bathrooms for five days, |
1:46.1 | unlike many events that only need a few porta-potties to last a couple of hours. Her boss responds, |
1:52.1 | but he completely misses the point. He says, porta-potties are a great idea. Think of the savings. |
1:59.1 | So with less than four weeks to go, there is no food and not |
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