Ja Rule has defended himself against the backlash surrounding his involvement in the infamous Fyre Festival, following the release of two documentaries on the subject.
- Unpaid Fyre Festival caterer receives over $100k in donations
- Fyre Festival organisers 'blew budget' on models, parties
The 'I'm Real' rapper took to Twitter in an attempt to assure the public that he did not mastermind the sham event, which was billed as a luxury festival on a tropical island in the Bahamas.
Instead, revellers were left stranded on an unfinished site with little food, nowhere to sleep and no access to facilities - let alone any sign of the promised entertainment or Instagram influencers.
The disastrous string of events that saw organiser Billy McFarland sentenced to six years in jail for fraud in 2018 have been exposed in two documentaries by streaming services Netflix and Hulu.
"I love how ppl watch a doc and think they have all the answers..." he tweeted.
"I had an amazing vision to create a festival like NO OTHER!!! I would NEVER SCAM or FRAUD anyone what sense does that make???"
High Snobiety reports that the 42-year-old hip hop artist can be heard telling Fyre Festival workers "that's not fraud - false advertising maybe," in recordings included in Netflix's Fyre.
"Y'all want it to be me sooo bad it's crazy... kinda sad!!!" he continued on Twitter.
"The crazy shit is I'm watching the docs in awe myself..."
"I NEVER MADE OR GOT PAID ONE DOLLAR FROM FYRE... BUT EVERYONE ELSE DID!!!" another tweet read.
"I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray!!!"
Ja Rule also maintained that he never "made or got paid one dollar from Fyre". He refused the take responsibility for cases like that of restaurant owner MaryAnne Rolle, who claimed she was left over US$50,000 out of pocket having never been paid for her catering work.
A GoFundMe page set up by Rolle following the documentaries has now reached more than US$140,000.
In an Instagram post featuring the Bahamian caterer, Ja Rule extended his apologies to those affected by the festival.
"MaryAnne Rolle we've never met but I'm devastated that something that was meant to be amazing, turn[ed] out to be such a disaster and hurt so many [people]."
"SORRY to anyone who has been negatively effected [sic] by the festival..."
Many online commentators remained unconvinced, taking to the comments section to share their outrage.
"Your response to the festival was terrible. You were looking to capitalize on the bad media: in my opinion you're just as guilty and should also be serving time," one Instagram user wrote.
Another simply said: "Unfollowing. Disgusting."
Newshub.
