It wouldn’t be the second coming of the Fyre Fest without a little disorder, but the organizers behind Fyre Festival 2.0 insist they’re doing things by the book — even if their venue disagrees.
Following reports from The Cut and Rolling Stone that the upcoming envisioned music/culture event set for May 30-June 2 in Mexico may be shaping up to be yet another scam, Billy McFarland shared his side of the story on Friday.
“Fyre has been working directly with the government of Playa del Carmen (PDC) and their officials since March 5, 2025, to ensure a safe and successful event,” he wrote on Instagram. “All media reports suggesting our team has not been working with the government of PDC are simply inaccurate and based on misinformation.”
“Fyre has operated as a good partner with PDC government and has followed the proper processes and procedures to lawfully host an event,” the message continued. “We will be sharing all relevant permits, payments and communications.”
Those permits included March submissions for talent, tourism, special event and environmental regulations — meaning they only just started getting permission last month even though the follow-up festival was announced back in September 2024.
However, the city of Playa del Carmen issued an opposing X statement on Thursday, saying, “Neither this event nor any event with its name will occur in our city. After looking over the information around the situation, we can confirm that there have been no registrations, planning or conditions to indicate that this will happen in our municipality.”
With that said, TMZ further reported on Sunday that McFarland and his fellow organizers have supposedly been texting about the fallout with Playa del Carmen. It’s worth noting the original Fyre Festival 2.0 was supposed to take place on Isla Mujeres, but that locale also stated no paperwork was ever filed prior to the switch.
Of course, this all comes nearly eight years after the first Fyre Festival went viral for being a fraud. McFarland was even sentenced to six years in prison and ultimately got out after serving less than four.
TheWrap has reached out to Fyre Festival 2.0 organizers for further comment.
