Have you seen FYRE yet?
The Netflix documentary follows the story of the rise and crashing fall of the “greatest party that never happened”, the 2017 Fyre Festival.
What was originally billed as an exclusive festival on a private island, with yachts, luxury villas, VIP treatments, incredible music, and celebrities turned out to be the total opposite.
The festival was abruptly cancelled after rate guests began to arrive and it became clear the infrastructure that was in place wasn’t enough to host Fyre Festival.
Beyond leaving the would-be festival goers out of pocket for the extraordinary ticket prices, this also left the members of the Bahamian workforce – who had been helping construct and provide services at the event – unpaid.
Maryann Rolle was one of the workers who was highlighted in the documentary.
The Exuma Point restaurant owner worked around the clock to provide food for the attendees. She claimed that she used $50,000 of her personal savings to pay her team.
She said in the documentary:
“I had 10 persons working with me directly just preparing food all day and all night, 24 hours. I had to pay all those people.
“I went through about $50,000 of my savings that I could have had. They just wiped it out, and never looked back.”
After the documentary was released on Netflix this week, Rolle has created a GoFundMe page. It has gotten more than €30,000 ($35,000) at the time of writing.
For those of you asking how to help Maryann Rolle, the Bahamian woman who spent $50,000 of her savings to feed the local laborers who worked on the Fyre Festival, she has an official gofundme page here: https://t.co/eLawHgE92E
— Gabrielle Bluestone (@g_bluestone) January 18, 2019
Gabrielle Bluestone, a producer on Netflix’s documentary, shared the fundraising link on her own social media accounts.
The description on the fundraising page reads:
“It has been an unforgettable experience catering to the organizers of Fyre Festival. Back in April 2017 I pushed myself to the limits catering no less than a 1000 meals per day.
“Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all prepared and delivered by Exuma Point to Coco Plum Beach, and Roker’s Point where the main events were scheduled to take place.
“Organizers would also visit my Exuma Point location to enjoy the prepared meals. Fyre Fest organizers were also checked into all the rooms at Exuma Point.
“As I make this plea it’s hard to believe and embarrassing to admit that I was not paid…I was left in a big hole! My life was changed forever, and my credit was ruined by Fyre Fest. My only resource today is to appeal for help.”
