Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, and a bunch of other celebs, musicians, and models are now being sued over their role in promoting the infamously ill-fated Fyre Festival back in 2017!
According to a new report out Friday in the Wall Street Journal, the two models — along with musicians Migos, Pusha T, Blink-182, Lil Yachty, and others — were specifically named in the lawsuit brought forth in US Bankruptcy Court in NYC by trustee Gregory Messer.
Related: Ja Rule Is Already Planning Fyre Festival 2.0
Messer’s name should be familiar to those who have been following the extensive legal fallout from the failed Fyre Festival two years ago; he’s the man who has been investigating the scandal that arose out of some simply spectacularly poor festival planning by now-convicted fraudster Billy McFarland, disgraced rapper Ja Rule (pictured, inset), and several of their other business partners.
The music festival had been supposed to take place in the Bahamas, but it was a well-documented disaster before it even started, with McFarland’s company selling tickets to suites and luxury tents that didn’t exist on an island that simply wasn’t set up with any kind of infrastructure to handle the coming throngs of music fans.
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By the time festival-goers reached the island, the team’s production staff was overwhelmed, and social media quickly exploded with infamous pictures and videos of the horrendous festival coming undone in real time.
Now 23-year-old Jenner, 28-year-old Ratajkowski, the musicians, and a host of other influencers, models, and celebs are under legal fire over the quick money they made to promote the festival on social media before it ever started.
Messer is banking on being able to recover money paid to these promoters — as well as to artists who never actually played, since the festival didn’t happen — as a way to recover money for those taken in by McFarland’s lofty promises and eventual fraud.
Take Kenny for one; she was paid $250,000 (!!!) to promote Fyre Festival several months before the event, and was later given another $25,000 to share a since-deleted Instagram post about the music destination!!! And the rest of the money involved here that the suit seeks to recoup is all just as jaw-dropping.
Fyre Media reportedly also paid:
- $299,000 to DNA Model Management, who represents Ratajkowski
- $350,000 to International Creative Management (ICM), who represents Migos, Lil Yachty, and Rae Sremmurd — who were all supposed to have played at the festival
- $730,000 to Nue Agency, for performances by Pusha T, Desiigner, and Tyga
- $500,000 to Creative Artists Agency, for a performance by Blink-182
Of course, none of the performances happened — nor did the models themselves ever set foot on the island during the event — and so Messer is hoping the money can come back to its rightful owners after all that deceit.
BTW, McFarland himself was also sued for $14 million in this round of legal action. That’s the amount he allegedly transferred to Fyre Media in the first place from another bankrupt company, which he then used to promote the ill-fated experience. As you’ll probably recall, Billy is already currently serving six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud charges in connection with the festival.
Back in January, according to People, Messer sought an ex parte order in bankruptcy court to subpoena both Jenner and Ratajkowski.
BTW, the order also covered models Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber, among others — so Messer may not be done suing famous people and influencers over their roles in publicizing and promoting the phony festival!
It remains to be seen whether the KUWTK star and the rest will actually be on the hook for the ill-fated trash fire; guess we’ll have to see how the court rules.
One thing we can be sure of: this is apparently far from the last we’ve heard about the Fyre Festival!
[Image via WENN]
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