Fyre Festival organizer Billy McFarland, the man behind the ill-famed, high-profile, fraudulent music festival, has been released from prison early.
TMZ reported that the 30-year-old has been released but is not yet completely free, as he has been sitting in community confinement since March 30.
It is unknown whether McFarland is in his personal home now or if he’s at a halfway house — an institute for people with criminal backgrounds to learn the skills needed to reintegrate into society.
McFarland was expected to stay in prison through the end of August 2023 but his lawyers have been fighting for an early release since 2020. The producer of the calamitous 2017 Fyre Festival — which left hundreds of people stranded on an island without food, shelter and water — was originally sentenced to six years back in 2018.
McFarland also made headlines after he participated in a podcast aptly titled “Dumpster Fyre,” meant to corroborate his side of the story and give audiences an inside look at his life in prison. The project didn’t go far, however, as it landed McFarland in solitary confinement for six months as punishment for speaking to the media.
With tickets costing thousands of dollars, Fyre Fest promised luxurious villas and top-of-the-line performances by some of music’s biggest stars, including Pusha T, Tyga, Migos and Blink-182 — all of whom dropped out just days before the event. Instead, attendees were met with broken-down tents, sad-looking sandwiches and no scheduled music acts.
Since then, the term Fyre Festival has become synonymous with treacherous and deceptive festival environments. Most recently, it was invoked when a Coachella pre-party called Galore Fest left influencers stranded in the desert heat with no transportation to the main event.
