Netflix
Ja Rule and Billy McFarland in "Fyre"
- The rapper Ja Rule told TMZ he has plans for an "iconic" music festival similar to the failed Fyre Fest, which was the subject of Netflix and Hulu documentaries this year.
- Ja Rule helped create the 2017 Fyre Fest with entrepreneur Billy McFarland, who is currently in prison for fraud.
- "In the midst of chaos, there's opportunity," Ja Rule said.
The catastrophic would-be music festival, Fyre Fest, was the subject of two documentaries this year from Netflix and Hulu.
The rapper Ja Rule, who helped create the Fyre Fest with entrepreneur Billy McFarland, admitted to TMZ that he hasn't watched either documentary, saying he "lived it" and doesn't have to watch them.
"It's not funny to me, it's heartbreaking to me," Ja Rule said. "It was something that I really, really wanted to be special and amazing, and it just didn't turn out that way."
But Ja Rule didn't rule out another event similar to Fyre Fest, and said, "in the midst of chaos, there's opportunity."
"It is the most iconic festival that never was," he said. "I have plans to create the iconic musical festival."
Ja Rule was referring to his new app, ICONN, which is similar to the doomed Fyre app that allowed people to request bookings for musicians. Ja Rule promoted the app on his Twitter earlier this month.
The Fyre Fest was a 2017 event on an island in the Bahamas aimed at promoting the Fyre app and attracting millennials, who were promised a luxury experience.
The two documentaries, Netflix's "Fyre" and Hulu's "Fyre Fraud," detail how poorly organized the festival was. When attendees arrived, they were stranded with terrible living arrangements and little food. McFarland, who was in charge, is currently in prison for fraud.
While Ja Rule says he hasn't seen the docs, he has spoken out against them after they became viral hits.
He tweeted this week, "The reason I say it's not fraud is because the festival was NOT a fraud ... Billy fraudulently doctored agreements to get money from investors that's why he's in prison ... nothing to do with ME..."
Read more of Business Insider's coverage of Fyre Fest:
- I cannot escape Marie Kondo, Ted Bundy, and the Fyre Festival, and it's all Netflix's fault
- Netflix's 'Fyre' director explains how getting the footage of the NYC VIP Access ticket-selling scam was 'kind of an accident'
- Netflix's 'Fyre' director says Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland could make a comeback when he gets out of prison
- We watched Netflix's and Hulu's docs about the doomed Fyre Festival, and one gives you a better look inside the fiasco
- Netflix's 'Fyre' director hits back at Hulu's whitewashing criticism and says the Fyre Festival founder wanted $125,000 for an interview
- Netflix and Hulu are releasing competing documentaries on the Fyre Festival debacle, but Netflix is dominating Google search interest