Fyre festival 2 ‘postponed’ just weeks before it was scheduled to start
Fyre festival 2 has been “postponed”, according to messages sent to ticket holders, just weeks before it was scheduled to start.However, festival organizers told the Guardian that the festival is “still on” and they are currently “vetting new locations and will announce our host destination soon”.The event, advertised as a luxury music festival, was supposed to take place in Mexico from 30 May to 2 June.It was intended as an improved follow-up to the failed first Fyre festival in 2017, which experienced problems with security, food, accommodation, medical services and artist relations, resulting in the festival being indefinitely postponed and eventually cancelled.“The event has been postponed and a new date will be announced.
We have issued you a refund.Once the new date is announced, at that time, you can repurchase if it works for your schedule,” read a message sent to ticket holders, ABC News reported.Billy McFarland, a businessman who organized the initial festival alongside the rapper Ja Rule, was convicted of wire fraud in connection with the failed 2017 festival.The new festival was being marketed under the slogan “FYRE Festival 2 is real”.Tickets, which went on sale in February, started at $1,400.
Luxury tickets with artist access ran as high as $25,000.A $1m package, titled “Prometheus God of Fyre”, was also offered.This option was intended for only eight people, and said to include a four-stateroom yacht and 24/7 private chauffeur service.Despite descriptions about the location of the sequel festival on the website, Mexico officials had previously confirmed that no event of that name was planned to be held there.“We have no knowledge of this event, nor contact with any person or company about it,” Edgar Gasca, from the tourism directorate of Isla Mujeres, told the Guardian.
“For us, this is an event that does not exist.”At the time, McFarland responded on Instagram to defend the festival, saying: “First, Fyre 2 is real.Second, we have incredible partners leading the festival.”Sign up to Headlines USGet the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morningafter newsletter promotionThe official Instagram account for the festival later posted in April: “All media reports suggesting our team has not been working with the government of PDC [Playa del Carmen, another site on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula] are simply inaccurate and based on misinformation.”It continued: “FYRE has operated as a good partner with PDC government and has followed the proper processes and procedures to lawfully host an event.
”In their statement on Thursday, festival organizers said via email that they had been offered to host Fyre festival 2 in Mexico in September 2024 and then, in December 2024, they “received official government documentation stating full support”.They claimed that after they “secured private venues with active operating permits, hotels, and we began building and selling ticket”, they were “blindsided by a public statement claiming Isla Mujeres had no knowledge of FYRE Festival 2, despite months of collaboration and signed documentation”.They then alleged that “the government of Playa del Carmen approached” them and agreed to host the festival, but then later “publicly denied any awareness of FYRE Festival 2”.“When a government takes your money, issues permits, promotes the event, and then pretends it’s never heard of you, that’s not just dishonest – it’s theft.Due to this, we have decided to move FYRE Festival 2 elsewhere,” the organizers said.
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UK banks expected to win shareholder approval for big pay rises for bosses
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Italian opposition file complaint over far-right party’s use of ‘racist’ AI images
Centre-left parties slam ‘racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic’ faked images posted on social media by League partyOpposition parties in Italy have complained to the communications watchdog about a series of AI-generated images published on social media by deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini’s far-right party, calling them “racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic”, the Guardian has learned.The centre-left Democratic party (PD), with the Greens and Left Alliance, filed a complaint on Thursday with Agcom, the Italian communications regulatory authority, alleging the fake images used by the League contained “almost all categories of hate speech”.Over the past month, dozens of apparently AI‑generated photos have appeared on the League’s social channels, including on Facebook, Instagram and X. The images frequently depict men of colour, often armed with knives, attacking women or police officers.Antonio Nicita, a PD senator, said: “In the images published by Salvini’s party and generated by AI there are almost all categories of hate speech, from racism and xenophobia to Islamophobia
From Sidemen to MrBeast: how YouTube and its creator economy took over TV
From MrBeast creating the world’s most expensive reality TV show and Jake Paul’s record-breaking clash with Mike Tyson to the British supergroup Sidemen’s Netflix deal, YouTube’s superstar creators are taking over mainstream television.Last month Netflix launched the second series of Inside, the Sidemen’s reality show that was a hit when the first run of episodes premiered on YouTube.The deep-pocketed streamer has such confidence in the format from the septet – whose members include the content creator, rapper and some-time boxer KSI – that it has already commissioned a US version, which is to be broadcast later this year.The TV breakthrough comes just weeks after the Sidemen, who have more than 150 million YouTube subscribers, sold out the 90,000-seat Wembley stadium for a charity football match against a YouTube Allstars team.Attenders and players at the 18-goal extravaganza included Paul, whose Netflix boxing match against Tyson in November made history as the most-streamed sporting event ever
County cricket day two: Sussex v Surrey, Hampshire v Somerset, and more – live
A stat, from Ken, at Old Trafford. Marcus Harris joins an illustrious, if esoteric, list. Fewest innings to make the most scores of fifty plus for Lancs since debut:Ashwell Prince 4 in first 4 innsMarcus Harris 4 in first 5*Dinesh Mongia 4 in first 6Liam Livingstone 4 in first 7and Luke Wells retires hurt after being hit on the elbow by Tom Scriven.In Division One: George Hill has broken through at Chester le Street, McKinney caught for six. Yorkshire 64-1
NBA playoffs 2025 predictions: the winner, key players and dark horses
Our writers made their predictions with the NBA postseason tipping off in proper on Saturday afternoonAbsolutely not. Could it stand to be a little shorter? Sure. Do the referees need to be more judicious with when they intervene? I’d argue they do. But the real problem the NBA faces is, in my opinion, a PR one. Its loudest voices should spend less time pearl-clutching and more time celebrating
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