Ja Rule Watched Those Fyre Fest Docs This Weekend And Has Some Thoughts

Ja Rule & Billy McFarland

Last week, Hulu and Netflix released competing documentaries on the disastrous Fyre Festival event. Rapper Ja Rule, one of the cofounders of Fyre Fest, took some time out this weekend to watch the docs, both of which essentially argue that Billy McFarland and his coterie of enablers (including Ja Rule) and investors had absolutely no idea what they were doing throwing a music festival. Ja Rule then took to Twitter to offer his thoughts on the schadenfreude-laden docs.

"I had an amazing vision to create a festival like NO OTHER!!! I would NEVER SCAM or FRAUD anyone what sense does that make???" Ja Rule tweeted on Sunday. "I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray!!!" he later added.

He also took some time out to respond to some of the many people tweeting at him:

As one of the co-founders of the festival—and the Fyre App, the celebrity booking app which the festival was supposed to be promoting—Ja Rule is, of course, featured prominently in the docs, though he is more often depicted as lending celebrity cred to McFarland rather than someone deeply involved or interested in the actual planning of the event. (Ja Rule did not agree to be interview in either documentary.) Despite his protestations now, some insiders claim in the docs that Ja Rule was very aware of the problems with the festival—at one point in the Hulu doc FYRE FRAUD, McFarland was asked directly if Ja Rule was aware of the scam: "I was in charge of the festival and I made the decision to keep it going to…to…to…I was in charge, and so its on me," he stuttered. "But…yeah."

His other most notable moments on camera include footage of him partying with McFarland and yelling at an underling to let him see some pigs (one of whom later bit McFarland in the genitals): "Real talk, like, we’re spendin’ a lot of fuckin’ money," Ja Rule says in footage from Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. "If we wanna go fuckin’ see the pigs, we go see the pigs.” He shakes his head. “That’s it. If we wanna go fuckin’ see the pigs, and the girls wanna go see the pigs, we go fuckin’ see the pigs."

There is also footage in the Netflix doc from after the festival, in which the rapper tells Fyre employees of the fest, "That’s not fraud, that’s not fraud. False advertising, maybe."

As Ja Rule alluded to up above, both documentaries have accused the other of ethical lapses. The Netflix documentarian says that Hulu paid Billy McFarland for his interview (something that has been confirmed, though it's unclear how much), while Hulu's doc directly addresses Netflix's partnership with Jerry Media/Fuck Jerry, an advertising/social media agency who had been involved in Fyre Fest. Elliot Tebele, the creator of Jerry Media/Fuck Jerry, is an executive producer of the Netflix documentary.

Tebele took to Twitter yesterday as well to say he took the money he was paid for Fyre Fest and donated it to Maryann Rolle, a restaurant owner in the Bahamas who said in the Netflix doc that she lost her life savings when she had to pay numerous people after she was stiffed by McFarland. Her GoFundMe campaign has now reached over $134K.

After his Twitter tirade, Ja Rule posted about Rolle as well on Instagram this morning: "My heart goes out to this lovely lady... MaryAnne Rolle we’ve never met but I’m devastated that something that was meant to be amazing, turn out to be such a disaster and hurt so many ppl... SORRY to anyone who has been negatively effected by the festival... Rule."

McFarland is currently serving a six-year sentence for Fyre Fest and a post-Fyre ticket scam/Ponzi scheme, which the feds found out about while he was awaiting sentencing for the Fyre Fest fraud. His lawyer had argued for a light sentence, claiming McFarland was bipolar and had ADHD and "delusional beliefs of having special and unique talents that will lead to fame and fortune." The judge disagreed, saying, "Bipolar does not excuse behavior... This was not a good idea gone bad, the bad intent was long withstanding."