Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Ja Rule puts infamous Fyre Festival cheese sandwich tweet on sale as an NFT

Viral tweet showed cheese sandwiches being served in styrofoam containers

Isobel Lewis
Wednesday 07 April 2021 09:22 BST
Comments
Promotional video for Fyre Festival

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Ja Rule has announced that he is selling the infamous cheese sandwich tweet from Fyre Festival as an NFT.

Back in 2017, the rapper teamed up with entrepreneur Billy McFarland to host a luxury music festival on a private festival in the Bahamas. The event was promoted on social media by influencers including Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski, with tickets ranging in price from $500 (£362) to $12,000 (£8690).

But while guests were promised luxury accommodation and meals from celebrity chefs, alongside performances from Migos and Major Lazer, they were met with disaster relief tents and sodden mattresses upon arrival.

The experience was embodied in a tweet by festival-goer Trevor DeHaas, who shared a picture of the limp cheese sandwich in a styrofoam container that guests were offered.

Now, Ja Rule has teamed up with DeHaas to sell the rights to the viral post as a non-fungible token. You can read our explainer on NFTs here.

Read more:

A listing on the rapper’s Flipkick website describes the item as a “meme. Cultural touchstone. Cheese sandwich”.

“From an inauspicious dinner, photographer Trevor DeHaas captured the most iconic image from 2017’s most famous debacle — the Fyre Festival,” it reads. 

“Two limp white slices on wheat bread lay, like the lifeless body of Icarus, bemoaning the hubris of man. A timeless image of inestimable cultural import, sold now as a singular NFT.”

The winner of the sale will receive the copyright to the tweet.

The Fyre Festival saga was the subject of two documentaries in 2019, one for Netflix and one for Hulu.

McFarland is currently serving a six-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to wire fraud.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in