S01E11. FYRE Festival : Part 1

It’s HERE! The Fyre Festival. The entire reason Sue and Caitlin started this podcast. Fyre – a legendary tale of white male arrogance, social media branding, and rich kids trapped on an island as the world laughed. Fyre – a music festival where no music was actually played; a luxury experience complete with FEMA tents and impoverished, unpaid day laborers; a Ponzi scheme mixed with a catfish rolling on Molly. It was somehow more disastrous than anyone could have predicted, and totally predictable. Six months ago, overwhelmed by the injustice, absurdity, and outright BALLSINESS of the Fyre Festival, Sue Smith needed to talk to someone about it. How was this even possible? It turned out that Caitlin Brodnick held a love of historic scams, and ScamWow was born: two comedians, fascinated by cons and hypnotized by orange tiles on Instagram, tackling the world’s most effective grifters. Hulu? Netflix? Which Fyre documentary was better? Well, Netflix obviously, but Caitlin and Sue watched both. They discuss all of the events leading up to the festival (and they use the term “festival” loosely). They dig deep on lead con artist Billy McFarland and his little henchman Ja Rule. Seriously, Ja Rule seems really not all there mentally. No shade, but is he ok? If he tells you to get in the water, run and get help. They ponder models swimming with pigs, Instagram influencer shit, and Pablo Escobar’s alleged Island. The usual. And OMG that brilliant moment where all the influencers wax poetic about their personal brands?!?! And they all agree that it’s…positivity? Because of course it is. This epic scam – along with Anna Delvey (who they will soon cover!), Theranos, Caroline Calloway (they will get to her too), and that weird Instagram egg – show that despite our unlimited access to information, scams aren’t going away. As long as someone craves a quick buck or getting drunk on a yacht with models without possessing any redeeming qualities, there will be someone there promising to make those dreams real. And isn’t that what this story is about? If you throw enough booze, money, and promises of celebrity out there, even otherwise smart people become the posse thrown under the runaway train of a vicious scam. Why didn’t they cover this sooner? There are just SO MANY scams. Sue and Caitlin sincerely apologize for not covering this sooner, but the time has now come to rip into this ridiculous historical moment. Here’s some further reading: The New Yorker: The Fyre Festival Was A Luxury Nightmare Marie Claire: Everything You Need to Know About the Summer of Scam VICE: Let’s Just Do It and Be Legends, Man The Fyre Festival’s Pitch Deck Maryann Rolle’s GoFundMe Our Patreon, social media channels, and more! Send us your scams! scamwowpodcast@gmail.com Or call: 347-509-9414 DISCLAIMER: We are comedians and this is satire. C’mon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices