A trustee supervising the Fyre Festival bankruptcy has filed 14 lawsuits against several talent agencies, management firms, celebrities and influencers who promoted the doomed event on social media, according to Billboard.
Gregory Messer, the trustee, filed the lawsuits in an attempt to recover the $14.4 million that Fyre Media and its founder, Billy McFarland, paid out to have the event in the first place. That money is owed to creditors and investors, and some of the agencies being sued for it are IMG, CAA, International Creative Management, Paradigm, United Talent Agency and more. Pusha T, Migos, Lil Yachty and Rae Sremmurd are just a few of the clients these agencies represent. McFarland is currently serving a six-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud in 2018.
Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski are being sued as well for their role in promoting the festival via social media. The pair were reportedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote Fyre Fest, and Jenner specifically is accused of "intentionally [leading] certain members of the public and ticket purchasers to believe" that Kanye West was headlining the festival, according to Rolling Stone.
The suit against CAA claims that Blink-182, their client, was paid $500,000 after canceling their appearance at the disastrous festival. "The band has retained those funds," the suit reportedly reads. "In its cancellation tweet, the band did not disclose to its fans and others any of the problems that it was having with Fyre Festival and its management, or that the Festival appeared to be in serious trouble," it adds.
"Significant amounts were recklessly spent in continuation of McFarland’s schemes," New York attorney Fred Stevens, who is working alongside Messer, wrote in a lawsuit that took aim at Fyre Media, Billboard reports. He is referencing the "musical acts that never showed up," and the $2.25 million that was paid "to influencers that promoted the Festival on social media without indicating to their followers and the public that they were paid for promoting the Festival (including $275,000 to Kendall Jenner for a single social media post)."
Ja Rule, who was famously affiliated with the 2017 festival, released a song about the event this week called "Fyre."
