Two separate documentaries on the failed 2017 Fyre Festival has once again put Ja Rule in the spotlight.
Hulu released its documentary “Fyre Fraud” on Jan. 14, and Netflix’s “Fyre” premiered on Jan. 18. Both included people who were involved with the festival, which was supposed to happen on two separate weekends that year, April 28-30 and May 5-7.
In the beginning, the event looked promising. It was billed as a bunch of fun-filled days that would include live music, fancy catered meals, various types of entertainment and top-notch accommodations in the Bahamian sun.
But within hours of the first weekend, online photos surfaced of people given tents to sleep in. Plus, there wasn’t enough power on the private island so people sat in the dark. They were also given cheese sandwiches to eat.
Rule was one of the organizers of the festival, as was businessman Billy McFarland, who was charged and sentenced to six years in prison for his involvement. He also was accused of bilking investors out of $27 million.
McFarland was also in the Hulu documentary and explained what went wrong from his side of things, but according to reports Rule refused to participate in either documentary.
In fact, since the weekend of the festival, the rapper has remained relatively quiet about it, but that changed after the documentaries were released and some called for him to be charged.
“I love how people watch a doc and think they have all the answers,” Rule tweeted on Jan. 20. “I had an amazing vision to create a festival like no other. I would never scam or fraud anyone. What sense does that make?
“Hulu paid Billy,” he added. “That money should’ve went to the Bahamian people. “Netflix paid f–k Jerry, the same guys that did the promo for the festival … Y’all want it to be me sooo bad. It’s crazy. Kinda sad. The crazy sh– is I’m watching the docs in awe myself … I never made or got paid one dollar from Fyre but everyone else did.”
Rule also apologized to Maryann Rolle, a Bahamian resort owner who upon McFarland’s request, provided housing for 500 guests of the festival after they had nowhere to go. In both documentaries, Rolle said she was never paid and had to spend $50,000 of her life savings to pay employees.
“My heart goes out to this lovely lady,” wrote Rule. “We’ve never met, but I’m devastated that something that was meant to be so amazing turned out to be such a disaster and hurt so many people. Sorry to anyone who has been negatively effected by the festival.”
For the most part, Rule’s apology wasn’t accepted, and he kept getting blasted for everything from his overall involvement with the festival, to what some called a nonchalant attitude when things initially went awry.
As for Rolle, a GoFundMe page was set up in her name, and after both docs were released, the amount swelled to over $135,000.
