YouSaid · the spoken record

Billy McFarland

lines on the record: 142
first: 2022-12-08
most recent: 2022-12-08
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Think he did what most people would have done in that situation. Yeah, I think he certainly, I mean, he's got a lot of talents, right? But I don't think going back to jail was on his agenda. And I was a guilty one. Like, he should not, if all things shook out fairly at the end, I don't think he should have gone to jail. I don't think he committed any crimes. But I think like most people, they quickly made it known what I did wrong and how I did it. But yeah, I mean, I feel bad for him. I feel bad for everybody else who was. Was trying their best. They're trying hard to make things happen.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think like. The first day where I was like something is really wrong was at sentencing when the judge said six years. And I kind of like looked back at the faces of the friends and family that were there. That was And it's like, I legitimately just hurt. It was 30 people A way that's going to affect them, not just for four or five, six years, but for 20 years, 30 years, and it's never going to go away. And I don't think that wasn't all the lessons learned in one day, but that, I think, was the start of what would take another 18 months of being in jail to really reflect on. Like, this is fucking bad.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Scary as hell, and I think like. I wasn't defiant. I was more like I tried my best. Like that was my own internal mentality. Everybody at that time was accusing me and the festival of all being fake. And while I obviously made a million management decisions, the crime was in lying to investors, right? But I just didn't comprehend yet what I had really done. And I didn't realize that I was doing all these crimes for this end goal of making people successful. And even if it worked, I still would have gone to jail, but it didn't work. And I was fucked. And it's like couldn't understand at that point what was happening.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's where I went wrong. And it's like, okay, they're going to know that our revenue wasn't this, but I'm going to make the money and they're going to have fun. They're going to love me still. Like, it's so crazy to think about now, but that was the thought process. And that's even like for the magnesius tick, it's like if we oversold a ticket for an event, I was literally like running around when I came back to New York for a weekend. Like I'd go outside Madison Square Garden and pay like four times the price and make sure that person was happy in the moment, not realizing I just like lost a ton of money in the deal and actually hurt everybody else because we were losing money on it. So I was like so focused in this like long-term goal or short-term goal of happiness and success for everybody around me. And that's obviously German due to insecurity and whatever these desires are. But yeah, that was like my personal justification and crazy, but that's what it was.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I always knew in the back of my mind they're going to find out, but I convinced myself that if I had made them, if I gave them what they want, which I thought was happiness and success, it wouldn't have mattered.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lies the time, I think, just the craziest part was. How stupid it was from every level. Like, you know, you work hard to build relationships with friends, with loved ones, with supporters. And obviously, as soon as you lie to them, it's going to get found out. Whether it's the next day or in a year in five years, they're going to believe.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so when in the lying period leading up to the festival, I was trying to get money from everywhere and definitely was trying to get more money from Magnesis to help pay the bills as well. I was so stupid, like was certainly overselling access to Magnesis' events, but we ended up either buying the tickets at an inflated rate or refunding everybody. So I lost money every single time. It was crazy, like just so stupid.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If the event didn't happen, but the problem was I was just so sold out for events in the future that I had no chance at actually fulfilling that when my bell got revoked and I got arrested. It was just like they lost their money. And you were doing...”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was on bail. And like, It was all about this desire, like, okay, now it's about the money. Let me pay people back. And back in the magnesius days, like in the early fire days, brands would essentially pay us to host these events for our members or to invite members to random things. And I would always get invited to these charity events in the charity gallas and concerts and, you know, award shows and whatever it may be. I can get plus one or plus two depending on it. And I thought like, oh, this is a great way to make money. I can just call these brands back and ask for a favor and get a few spots and sell these tickets. I just was so stupid and so wrong and obviously couldn't fulfill what I was selling. I'm like fucked up. And it's kept me awake at night just as much, if not more than the festival, so we're on the same page there.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Many smart people both have said the same thing as you I was just caught in this process where. Okay, this investor, he didn't threaten me, but the investor kind of gave me an ultimatum. I blew him off, and he was right. He got me arrested. It's all about the money. I have to pay everybody back now. All right, I'm going to get him his money. And I wasn't like communicating with him at this point. But I'm going to get him his money. I'm going to pay everybody else back. And then this is all going to go away. And I can solve this. And I thought that the proper response to a criminal process was to solve the problem. When the proper response to the criminal process is to sit down, shut the fuck up, and like accept your punishment and just take it. And any other response, just like the wrong way to do it.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, more than a million dollars, more than one, less than 10. So I didn't have it. And then I was also kind of like certainly naive in my response. At the time, I just couldn't fathom that I was lying to investors, right? Like I knew I was trying my best to make the festival work. And the media's initial like line of questioning and the guest line of questioning as was all falling apart was like this was a scam. You didn't try to do this. So my reaction was like, no, I tried. I'm trying my best, but I couldn't like really understand the magnitude and the gravity of the crimes I did commit. So, it's still kind of fighting back. Like, oh, I didn't do anything wrong. I tried my best. And of course, I get back and realize, oh shit, I mean, it didn't happen overnight, but here's what actually happened.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The exact lines were like we need this amount of money, or else you're going to be in handcuffs on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. And I just didn't have the money, first of all”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Basically, I was called and told what was going to happen. It's like you fucked up, it's too late. Like, here's what's going to happen now. And I was totally, totally guilty. And I would have gone to jail if no one made that phone call. I just made the process happen. The process kicked off faster. But once it kicks off, you know, it's out of the hands of the investors and into the justice system. And I was black and white guilty. There was no gray area there.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For sure. I land back on like the Sunday night after the festival around midnight. And then that morning early, the FBI is at my door. And I think the initial investors who got really mad thought that the whole festival was a hoax and that I had stolen the money and had it hidden somewhere and it was like lying about the entire thing. And so it just like entered this whirlwind of hell.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. I mean, it's terrible. And the reality is there are people who are owed there and they're owed for the last two weeks of work before the festival. I think everybody a little bit different, but getting them paid back super important to me and trying to find ways to strengthen. Have heard from her through friends recently and hope we can figure out what is owed to everybody and start making those steps there. But yeah, unfortunately I've never met her, but hope to make right”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's a good guy. I think he tried his best to help. And unfortunately, he was brought on pretty late in the process. So he wasn't there from the beginning. But I think, obviously. If he was willing to do that, he went above and beyond.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's news to me. I mean, I've obviously heard the story many times, but I think the comment was in jest, like, go suck this guy's dick. Get this water, like whatever it takes, more of like, you know, go suck up to him and get the water released. Like, do anything beyond paying this guy, right? Like, you can't pay the customs people. So go do whatever it takes and just convince him that our festival is going to fail if people can't drink water.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, I just freaked out and said, get everybody out of here, get everybody back to Miami. And that was a response. Yeah, I was just I just didn't have the ability to, okay, what's actually happening? How can we prevent this? It was more of like a quick knee jerk. All right, send everybody home. It's over.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Team members in place. And I think the reality was looking back now is that contract goers were like reading things on Twitter and then coming and running to employees and telling them this. But like verified Twitter accounts is just back in what 17 were like announcing like gunshots fire like people hit like it was going all over Twitter. People were getting shot and things like that. And like none of this was true. But by the time it got to me, the details were so vivid. Just didn't have The ability to like step back, take a deep breath, recalibrate, and try to think through the information. It was like, oh shit, people are dead. Okay, cancel this. Turn the planes around, get everybody home.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I was told shortly after that moment, maybe an hour or two later, that three people had died. And thankfully no one was physically hurt at all to my knowledge. But I was told it's an elaborate stories.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, right now I've realized how bad my management skills were at the time. I'm like, where the fuck is everybody? We had, they weren't all full-time employees. A lot of them were like local contractors or whatever, but we had almost 800 people, you know, the day of the festival working there. And it just felt like I was surrounded by these people. I couldn't find any of my team members. And I had, I'm not going to name the publication, but a publication on the phone with me saying, you know, we heard you ran off on your yacht with like cocaine and hookers. I don't have a yacht, never done cocaine. Like there were no hookers, but they were also live streaming me on the cover of their webpage. So I'm like yelling at them. I'm getting yelled at by like, you know, the 50 or 100 concert goers right there. I just couldn't find anybody, but just goes to show. I just didn't have the systems in place to or the knowledge to manage everything. That was my first reaction. It was like, where the hell is everybody?”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm thinking out loud here. Maybe it was like the early exposure at like 18 and 19 to Titans of industry and then me comparing to them where it's like not feasible to get there without 20, 30, 40 years of work that they had put in. But it's like I wanted everything at that level and I wanted it now. So if you gave me this much, but it wasn't like where they were, I wasn't satisfied with it. So I think it was like the early exposure combined with like the impatience and need to have it.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think part of it is like the curse of. Things never being enough, right? And I guess I don't know what the derivation of that is, but, you know, whether it's business success or friendship success. Where you live, your home, your possessions, like the love that someone has for you Especially during that time of my life, I was almost like jaded into always thinking that it wasn't enough. Like if someone loved me, they didn't love me enough. Or if like I had a great day at work, the day wasn't good enough. And I think it all kind of come back to like,”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Good question. I think the need, it always kind of came back to the need to prove this path, right, of like, I don't need school. I don't need the path that we were all taught as the right path. Like my path is better and it leads to more interesting and more exciting life. And like, I think I always knew that, but I was so insecure and I wanted to have everybody else believe it. And I would get frustrated when people didn't share those same beliefs as me. So I think it's in part of the learning process as well, is to understand that everybody can't believe and like the same thing, and that's okay and like not taking it personally when that happens.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, the night before, so the festival was scheduled to be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for two weekends. We had a charter 2737 planes and open up like a temporary terminal in Miami to basically fly everybody to the island. And given we only had two planes, we started to fly guests in early on a Thursday morning before the festival started on Friday. And late that Wednesday night, we were like rushing to get everything ready in time. And it's like walked into the room around midnight and like the entire team was like slumped over on their chairs, like asleep on the couch, like heads leaning on the kitchen table. And it seemed like all the energy at the same time, but it's like left the entire team. And almost like as if on queue, as if written by a movie, a storm rolls in like late that Wednesday night. It's like, oh shit, like I've lost a team. You can't beat the weather or we're not in a good spot.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I thought that I wrongly convinced myself that there was an end goal and there was a solution. Like if the event worked and it went well, we'd have a great brand and everybody's happy. Everybody makes money. Everybody's going to want to come next year. And obviously it was so stupid, silly, but that was a pure. I had the finish line in sight.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was Yeah, I mean, like looking back, it's crazy no one wants her to live right with a dread to wake up every morning not knowing what that Excel document is going to be and then who I have to beg or call or plead or sell to solve that problem. It just is a shitty life.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was afraid to show weakness, right? So it's like, didn't acknowledge it to myself. I certainly didn't acknowledge it to anybody else. But like I knew something was wrong. I shouldn't be 24, my heart skipping beats. Like, you know, that's not normal. There's no reason why that should be happening. But yeah, I just refused to acknowledge it and would tell myself, oh, you're just soft. Like plenty of people have had to live with much worse stress in this figure it out, suck it up.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, like I think lost interest in. Sexual relationships lost interest in like friendship relationships that weren't transactional and it became like all work and nothing else mattered and like looked terrible, felt terrible. And like it just, it sucks and I can't imagine like the red phone at the bank because like that's never ending, right? Like maybe you can say, hey, I'll sell or hire a new CEO in seven years, but I can't imagine that kind of window.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was awful. And I think the one benefit and detriment that I had was an end date. This is all going to end on whether right or wrong, like on the festival date, right? We're either going to succeed and like be champions or we're going to drastically fail. And either way, let's go all in to try to make that happen.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And then there were a couple houses in the island which are like these like 10 bedroom private estate type things We sold a number of them. I don't think it was like, it wasn't tons, but we sold a couple.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I think our numbers were not like one to one at the end of the day. However, we did rent a couple hundred villas. So I know I've heard so many conflicting stories from this, but we did rent a couple hundred villas.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't think it was as one to one as that. We certainly were trying to sell as many expensive ticket packages as possible That whether it was like boats or yachts that we would go and charter, or whether it was high-end villas that we were trying to rent.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think one of the Bad thing as is, I definitely sheltered information. Like not every investor would have the same information, not every team member would have the same information. So I certainly kept Lot of the logistical problems in the dark. But if I knew one investor could solve this problem, I would tell them about the logistics problem. But then say don't tell anybody else, but we need your help here. So I was picking and choosing people who I thought would be sympathetic or capable of handling certain situations. So, I mean, terrible approach, but it was like a mix of, hey, we're in this far. We need a little bit more. So give it to us and also a mix of, well, we can't tell everybody this because if people realize, you know, we need. Million dollars by two o'clock today, we sound crazy and we're dead.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Started calling investors I think I was telling them we were fucked unless we had this money. And I think that a lot of the investors almost adapted. Similar mindset to me that we're in so far that, hey, we've already spent X. What's an extra couple million dollars at this point? Because if this thing works, we're all going to make money. And that was the mindset that I was trying to build. And I truly believed, obviously, it was so silly now to look back on.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We managed to survive like this for almost 60 days. And some days it was 100 grand, and some days it was $4 million. But it was wild.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We were at the point where the timeline that I had come up with was just so off and ridiculous. It just like made all of the payments and vendors just kind of go through their roof in terms of like the cost to make something happen so quickly. And we just had no money, right? And we were just trying to get money from any source, whether it was investors or sponsors or customers or ticket sales, consulting jobs. I was like, you know, wearing 10 hats to try to get the income we needed to fund the fire festival. And the money crunch was so bad. I literally wake up every day at 9 a.m. to a sheet where we had a list of every payment we had to make before the bank wire cut off at four o'clock that day. So I knew that by 2 p.m. I had to have that money come into our account so the team had enough time to wire it out before the four o'clock wire deadline. And so I'd wake up some days and it's like, we need $4 million by 2 p.m. I'd have five hours to go out, source the investors, come to terms with them, and actually get the money in the account, or else we were dead in the water.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I almost think you could find Similarities in these early trips that led to the fire festival in some of the magnesis experiences, which is taking people who wouldn't usually meet, bringing them together, and then taking them to a place they've never been before. Whether that's like a jet ski race at midnight around these uninhabited islands or like spear fishing for your own lobster with someone you've always wanted to meet is about just like connecting interesting people with like a tinge of crazy around these adventures. And those adventures could be physical, it could be virtual, but that's kind of always been, I think, what is intrigued. Backers, whether that's a friend, a partner, a sponsor, an investor is to be part of that. Tornado of activity and connection and excitement.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The hardest part is to trust that the majority of the people who are backing me had either invested in me since I was nineteen years old or had seen me work since I was nineteen or were referred or trusted someone like who fell into one of those camps. So it was like six years of trust and failure and struggle that I had to go through to get to the position where I could even ask for that kind of money. So more than the lie, but the revenue at the time, which I almost think is not as bad as betraying the trust of the years it took to get to that point where I was even in the position to lie about the revenue.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I think just like taking a second to dive into the lies and why it was so bad, I think there's like a misconception, at least from what I've heard, that I woke up one day, made a fake spreadsheet, which is totally true. And then with that spreadsheet, you know, went and raised a bunch of money. I think the reality is it's just like not that simple. You know, I can make a bad spreadsheet tomorrow without my background, and you're just not going to go and raise $20 million, right? It doesn't go like that.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think I find pride differently now. And when you're locked away for four years and ten months, like when you're alone or with a cellmate, but in solitary confinement, you can't leave, you have to find pride in the littlest and weirdest things. And, you know, once you leave 95% of it is just irrelevant and goes out the window. But I think finding pride is where it stands. And do I want to be the guy who's honest but quit or the guy who's honest but went for it and then whatever the outcome is, the outcome is and like to me, I can find more pride in that path.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Can I go about it, but go for it and go for it honestly? And if I fail, it's okay, but at least take the swing and like which path would, you know, make you prouder. And I've chosen the latter, which might be right, it might be wrong. But I just think it's really weird to me how a lot of like the close friends who have watched a documentary, almost all their advice has just been like, you can't do anything now. And maybe they're right. But it's like, that's been like, I think that's the hardest thing to internalize from the whole after effect process where we currently stand.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it's super interesting. Think about personally. And it's almost like weird because a lot of the people who have watched a documentary, whether they're friends or family members, other people, their advice is like you are incompetent. You can't do anything going forward, like, you know, go work some entry-level desk job for 70 hours a week for the rest of your life and shut up. And I think it's kind of like ironic, right? Because then you're stuck living with. Remorse, the guilt, the failure of what you did before. And I think the other option is.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I caught myself the other day, so I'm going to ask me the same question. And I said, and I think this shows like I'm not mature enough to watch it yet. I said, no one is probably slightly true but exaggerated. I said, no one real interviewed for the documentary. Like, why would any business person who has anything going on in their life, you know, attach himself to the event? That's mostly true, obviously, but still some of the people who did interview, I'm sure, were sharing real stories of real things that happened. So I'm not ready. There's no, I don't know why, but I'm not ready.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think at that time, I was still like, this is early 2019. So I was less than a year into my sentence. I think I was still in the combative phase where I just hadn't come to reality with everything that happened. And I was too scared to hear allegations or comments by other people and not be able to respond. And I realized being locked up and then having someone say something where it's probably like 70% true and 30% false, I wouldn't have like focused on or internalized the part that was true, even though that was probably most of it. I just would have gotten enraged by the false part, but I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. So I felt like I was not like stable enough or mature enough at that time to watch it. And I probably still am not.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At the first prison I was at, like when they appeared when they came out, the guys got a USB stick with both the documentaries and watched them. And I was like, I literally went outside. I think I was like one of two people who wasn't in the TV room watching the documentary, but couldn't do it”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's just so hard to hear. It's super hard to hear. And I think like. Natural reaction is to always like fight back and argue, oh, I'm not alive. And then you just like, and it you down a further hole? So I think it's just finding pride in a different area. And it's like, I am highly flawed and like any claims made to the contrary are wrong. And for whatever good ideas I've had, I've had 10 times many bad ones. And clearly I allied to an extent that I would really hope that the vast majority of the population would never be comfortable doing. So yeah, highly, highly flawed. And I think the next 30 years of my life will be defined by, can I focus on my skill set? Can I be honest with a small number of people around me? And like, can I get help in those areas where I clearly need it?”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think, like, my entire Mantra and drive right now is to form like super, super close relationships. And I want those six or eight people. To never question my integrity. And I think like getting on a microphone and telling the world, hey guys, I'm not a pathological liar. It's like, yeah, shut the fuck up. But it's like, I want to feel pride where I can go home tonight. And I know these six to eight people that I can call or they can call me. We will have our backs. And I really don't have the answer in terms of how I address it to the world. But it's like the sixth or eight people and you guys know who you are. Let's build that trust.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's how I've lost sleep over the past five years. But that's where beyond lying, like breaking all the ethics and morals, which totally did and totally wrong, it pushed away the help”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Agree I almost think Lying hurt things the most The Really pushed away the help that I needed. And I think that how we just announced the festival with our trailer video, we had already proven our ability to create hype to bring a manageable number of people to these islands to give them an amazing experience. If I just threw my hands up the next day and said, okay, I didn't expect to sell this many tickets and I don't have the resources or like wherewithal to actually execute this now. I think the professionals would have flocked to me and said, okay, like we are experts in doing this. Like, let us take over and you do what you're good at, but like, let us, you know, be the adults in the room and make this thing actually happen.”
2022-12-08 · The Diary of a CEO · (EXCLUSIVE) Billy McFarland: The Man Behind The Infamous Fyre Festival Disaster · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT