Fyre Fest's Billy McFarland allegedly placed in solitary confinement for podcasting
Aux Features Aux
Attorneys for Billy McFarland, the New York would-be entrepreneur best known for organizing the disastrous Fyre Festival—the most high-profile of a history of schemes that saw him sentenced to 6 years in jail for fraud in 2018—have alleged that McFarland is being punished for participating in a podcast detailing the history of the infamous event. Specifically, McFarland’s lawyers say that he (and his cellmate, who also participated in the project) have been placed in solitary confinement for calling in to the new podcast Dumpster Fyre, which premiered this Tuesday.
And look: As denizens of the internet, we have the same kneejerk thoughts running through our heads that everybody else does, regarding the ways mandatory confinement might make for a pretty good deterrent to the social scourge of rampant podcasting. But the fact is, solitary confinement is an incredibly rough thing for the human mind and body to undergo, to the extent that human rights advocates have been calling for its abolishment for years, and if these allegations are true, it’s a decidedly nasty reaction to McFarland performing the completely legal activity of calling someone on the phone. (Per The New York Times, a representative for the Bureau of Prisons refused to comment on the situation, stating that it never comments on inmates’ housing.)
Produced by the Notorious media company, the first episode of Dumpster Fyre sees McFarland interviewed (from prison) by internet and radio personality Jordan Harbinger. Heading off the most immediate complaint against its existence, the show’s producers also state early on that any profits McFarland would have gotten from the project will go towards the people who were victimized by the festival instead. The first episode seems to show McFarland—who credits a previous stay in solitary for giving him a chance to reflect on people that he’s hurt—in full repentance mode, although he’s also quick to move at least some of the blame for the event’s total collapse into aimless anarchy on other members of his organization. Meanwhile, it’s not clear how much of the show has already been recorded, or whether the current conditions of McFarland’s employment will block its plans for future releases.
35 Comments
“the completely legal activity of calling someone on the phone”Pretty sure if they were calling in from their cell they had to use a cellphone, and if all the prison movies and Tv shows I have watched are to be believed that means someone snuck them in a cellphone they were not allowed to have.
And if they were calling from the prison phones, like his attorney claims in the NYT article?
In that case unless there is some kind of specific rule or order from the prison or with his case not to do such a thing then he should not have been punished (and this punishment is over the top either way). Solitary confinement is horrible and should be abolished, this guy sucks and he should stay in prison, and the entire prison phone system is fucked up in ways I only just recently read about (families literally going into debt to talk to their imprisoned family members because they are paying outrageous phone call costs instituted by private companies is abhorrent). This is a situation where everything and everyone involved sucks. I admit my quick first reading of the article and seeing that his cellmate participated had me thinking it said they had called from their cell, but it does not explicitly say that and the linked article is behind a pay wall so I can’t see further details. That said, I’m not super inclined to believe anything this scumbag OR his lawyer say unless evidence is presented.
If they were calling from prison phones there would be records, so I don’t think that’s something they would lie about.
Well, where better to use a cellphone than in a cell? It’s right there in the name.
Not necessarily true. Some counties allow featureless cell phones with limited minutes due to the fact that payphones are slowly being phased out from prisons and jails.
I have as much animosity towards McFarland as anyone who wasn’t directly conned by him could/should, but jesus christ… solitary confinement? Can’t a judge just issue some kind of injunction against him giving interviews that could be used for profitable enterprises? Tossing someone in solitary for giving an interview makes about as much sense as jailing a man for possessing an 1/8th of weed. (puts hand up to earpiece) ok, my procuder is saying that still happens a bunch, too. Man, fuck this country.
After all, our penal system is very clearly about punishment rather than rehabilitation. Actually, large swathes of our society are.
The first episode seems to show McFarland—who credits a previous stay in solitary for giving him a chance to reflect on people that he’s hurt
He was in solitary confinement once before. He should know better. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
This country is fucked, so wish granted!
America’s penal system: so appalling is makes convicted criminals sympathetic by comparison.
Eh. Karma’s gotta eat, too.
Sure, the White guy gets solitary while the black guy isn’t even arrested. I see you America Justice System. (So I need a sarcasm tag here? You know what it is the internet two weeks before a presidential election I think I do.)
see the white guy stole money from rich people. that’s the only reason an exception was made here.
Are they going to look into how he was in jail and playing for the Clippers at the same time?
That’s because nobody knows who plays for the Clippers.
I just had to Google if this was a real team.
They are! They used to be the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, but now they’re for the Cleveland Indians.
Being on the Clippers is a sentence unto itself.
Solitary’s bad, OK? That said, I’m struggling to find much sympathy for this schmuck.
Finally, they’ve started rounding up podcasters
When they say any money goes to victims of the festival, to whom are they referring?
This is a punishment I would like to see apply to pretty much anybody who has a podcast.
So I’m going to mark you down as a “no” for my 453-part podcast about Saved By the Bell: The New Class.
But you can mark me down as a “yes” for the inevitable oral history that’s produced about your podcast.
We’re going to work in a murder of a host so a spin-off is basically built-in.
You leave Marc Maron alone!!!!!!
Ye gods, how many post-mortems of the goddamn Fyre Festival does the world need?
All of them, apparently.
Solitary confinement is torture.That being said, what a shithead.And regardless the motivations for giving him a platform, why should this podcaster do so? I fail to see the argument.There are other ways to help. The Fyre doc spawned a GoFundMe that has, to date, raised more than $235,000 for that poor restaurateur who McFarland took for a ride.
Solitary’s awful and seems excessive but, well, still struggling to have too much sympathy for this guy if I’m honest.
If they told him, “No communications”, then a small dose of solitary is a way of saying, “We mean it”.
I know it’s not, but sometimes solitary sounds nice. Quiet, small enclosed space with no one else around? I’m gonna go bilk some rich people and get me some of that.
I was waiting to see the fallout from “oh he’s in solitary” and was not disappointed.Prison is not, and should not, be a joy ride. My sympathy for this shmuck is less than zero. I’m not in any way saying that our current prison system isn’t fucked up, because it is. But trying to levy sympathy or even empathy for this guy is…dumb. I’m wondering if we’d be up in arms about solitary if it was about Martin Shkreli. They’re both douche-bros.