Fyre Festival's graphic designer left the country because "nobody abroad knows about Fyre"
Aux Features FYRE FESTIVALThere’s some palpable tension between Netflix and Hulu over their competing Fyre Festival documentaries, with both parties decrying the ethical implications of the other’s approach. The good news, however, is that, ethics aside, both are compelling, thoughtful, and funny as hell.
There is one marked difference between the two, though, and that’s Oren Aks, a graphic designer who, along with his employers at Jerry Media, helped roll out the failed festival’s social media campaign. Aks is a key figure in Hulu’s Fyre Fraud, asserting that Jerry Media, the outfit of internet personality FuckJerry, knew far in advance that things weren’t going as planned and, as such, should be held accountable. If you’re wondering why he’s not saying the same thing in Fyre, well, that’s because Jerry Media served as producers on the Netflix documentary, which, unsurprisingly, offers them a much kinder edit. See? Ethics.
Aks’ account drew sympathy from a number of Fyre Fraud watchers, including Chrissy Tiegen, who inquired as to his current whereabouts on Twitter. Well, per a new interview with Page Six, he’s living overseas because “nobody abroad knows about Fyre.”
“It took me about a year to come to terms with what happened,” he continued. “I was under the radar for like a year. I was like so depressed with myself and couldn’t believe what I’d done. I felt like I’d birthed like a satanic child.”
Aks tells Page Six that he worked with Jerry Media for another six months after the fallout, but began to suspect that the company was trying to “bleed” him out. He also heard about a potential documentary, but, in his words, “nobody wanted to have me involved.” He added, “It was all just insulting and kind of weird.”
He’s still going to watch the Netflix doc, though. “I believe in seeing and hearing everybody out,” he said. “I want to know obviously like are they talking shit and lying? Is there something that I don’t know somehow? Is there like something that I should worry about? I’m still scared somebody’s going to come after me. I don’t need lawsuits on me like I’m just trying to live.”
And that’s been hard enough with the festival’s residual stink obfuscating his talent. The challenge, he says, is figuring out “how to present” his Fyre work without it summoning dystopian images of cold cheese sandwiches and FEMA tents.
Um, maybe tell them it was for a different Fyre Fest?
10 Comments
Don’t hide from it, own it! “If I can sell Fyre Fest, I can sell ANYTHING!”
“If I can sell Fyre Fest, I can sell ANYTHING!”But this is patently untrue. Fyre Fest was easy to sell, not difficult. It was difficult to execute, not sell.
Honestly, that’s pretty spot on. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that there was nothing nefarious on his side, but the ability to convince rich kids to part with their money for over-priced bullshit is exactly what some of his future clients will be after. The failure on the follow through reflects on the organisers’ skills, not his.
There is a post I believe on Jezebel about some $120 bedroom slippers that have a giant waiting list and tons of venture capital.Taking money from the young and aspirational will never go out of style.
https://jezebel.com/luxury-house-slippers-beloved-by-meghan-markle-are-a-te-1831870653
“Abroad” in this case does not include Australia. We know all about Fyre.
I wonder where he did emigrate to. I’m guessing an English-speaking nation, or a nation where English is at least prominently used? I’m also guessing it wasn’t The Bahamas
Honestly he could have just moved to the midwest. A lot of people here already forgot about it, or never paid attention to it. sincerely,
graphic designer in Chicago
Likewise, all of Europe (including the UK).
I thought, of the whole bunch, Oren Aks was the only one with talent. The idea of the ‘orange square’ by 20+ ‘influencers’ to stop the internet is a legitimately good marketing idea. And then them all showing the photo of all the big models with just the hashtag — even I, who patently avoids social media — remember hearing about it. Like it’s said, it’s one of the few music festivals that sold out on early marketing alone.Not to mention, the idea of the festival isn’t impossible — it was just impossible under the circumstances they created (4 months, not enough funding, idiots in charge). This thing could have gone off, and if it had, you’d be reading about Aks’ marketing technique now. What I don’t understand is that it seems nobody in this whole thing signed an NDA — how is it that they can’t prove Jenner got $250k and etc. Or Ja Rule or Jerry Media’s extent.There’s a lot of talk about giving money to the Bahamians/the gofundme but the influencers and the models who happily took the perks seem to be super silent about the whole thing.