The sad cheese sandwich that has become a symbol of the Fyre Festival's failure.
Partygoers headed to a music festival in the Bahamas expected beachside barbecues and champagne brunches.Instead, they're getting cheese sandwiches - if they get any food at all.
The Fyre Festival was advertised as a three-day party, organized by Ja Rule and tech entrepreneur Billy McFarland's Fyre Media company. Tickets for the weekend cost between $450 and $12,000.
So far the event, which was supposed to take place over two weekends - April 28-30 and May 5-7 - has been described as a "complete disaster," with guests stranded at airports, half-built tents, and canceled musical acts.
According to a cached version of the festival's website (which has since been replaced with an apology from Fyre), the weekend was supposed to include a kickoff beachside barbecue complete with "a stunning sunset, a Bahamian menu and champagne toast," and a "yatch brunch party," with champagne and "awesome" views.
But attendees are saying on social media that there's not enough food for festival goers. The food that is there seems to be a far cry from the "culinary experience" they were promised.
The pièce de résistance of the festival's culinary failures so far: a sad cheese sandwich posted on Reddit late Thursday night.
"The dinner that fyre festival promised us was catered by Steven Starr is literally bread, cheese, and salad with dressing..." wrote Reddit user Here_Comes_the_Kingz.
Photos of the sad sandwich quickly began to spread around Twitter, as people revelled in the schadenfreude of the failed festival.
Soon, the sandwich was a symbol of the Fyre Festival's failure.
We don't know who exactly made this sad sandwich - but it definitely wasn't Starr Catering Group, who was originally booked for the event. The catering group said in a statement to Business Insider that it had terminated its services with Fyre on April 2.
"After careful consideration, Starr Catering Group realized that there were significant business issues that could not be resolved and would not allow them to deliver a premium food and beverage experience that met Starr's exceedingly high standards," the company said in a statement.
Here's the "culinary experience" we got for our artists pass at Fyre Festival. pic.twitter.com/Kk9q9uvkX0
- William N. Finley IV (@WNFIV) April 28, 2017Look at the food they are feeding to my team at @#fyrefestival. Literally no words for how disgraceful they are treating their partners. pic.twitter.com/CO7dOAJica
- Jeff (@OhHelloItsJeff) April 28, 2017The "catering" (which cost extra) was a slice of untoasted bread, two slices prepackaged cheese, and a side salad. pic.twitter.com/BoKxWAMI5i
- Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) April 28, 2017So they charged 10k and this is what people got in return??? #FyreFestival !?? Is this for real??? pic.twitter.com/XizkpbNubm
- purplemiami (@purplemiami) April 28, 2017the picture of that sandwich from the fyre festival is going to haunt me for weeks
- Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) April 28, 2017Of the many wonderful things about the #FyreFestival debacle, I think the cheese sandwich ("chef-curated culinary pop ups") is my favourite. pic.twitter.com/2KfgA5PfHV
- Chris Russell (@chrisrusselluk) April 28, 2017When I saw that sad cheese sandwich & lettuce I had to see the rest of the debauchery on this hashtag #FyreFestival pic.twitter.com/nTFGBf9lUZ
- B. (@BrionnaR22) April 28, 2017#fyrefestival : for lunch you will be served a vegetarian Swiss sandwich on artisan bread topped full of fresh garden veggies
Reality : pic.twitter.com/aOpK8np0wk
- Switch The Coverage (@SwitchCoverage) April 28, 2017