Kendall Jenner agrees to pay $90,000 settlement in Fyre Festival lawsuit
Model shared a now-deleted Instagram post promoting the festival in 2017
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Kendall Jenner has agreed to pay a $90,000 (£73,760) settlement over the Instagram post she shared in 2017 promoting the controversial Fyre Festival, Reuters reported.
The Bahamas-based festival became subject to controversy when it was accused of misleading ticket holders, having marketed itself as a luxury event complete with A-list performers and luxury accommodation.
In January 2017, Jenner shared a post on Instagram in which she promoted her “G.O.O.D Music Family”, the record label founded by her brother-in-law Kanye West, as the “first headliners” for Fyre Festival, which was due to take place in April and May that year.
“Use my promo code KJONFYRE for the next 24 hours to get on the list for the artists and talents afterparty on Fyre Cay,” the now-deleted post also read.
In court documents filed on 28 August 2019, it stated that Jenner was paid $250,000 (£205,030) to share the post, receiving an additional $25,000 (£20,505) a few days later.
The documents added that several influencers were paid by Fyre Festival co-founder Billy McFarland to promote the event “without indicating to their followers and the public that they were paid”.
It also stated that Jenner led her followers to believe that West would be performing at the music festival, despite the rapper never being scheduled to do so.
“This conduct demonstrates a clear lack of good faith on Jenner’s part,” the documents said.
In court documents filed on Tuesday 19 May, it states that the 24-year-old has agreed to pay a $90,000 (£73,760) settlement over the case, Reuters reported.
Jenner and other celebrities including fellow model Emily Ratajkowski were sued for their involvement in promoting Fyre Festival in August 2019 in the US Bankruptcy Court by attorney Gregory Messer, who is helping festival investors recover their money.
In March 2018, Fyre Festival co-founder McFarland was charged with two counts of wire fraud for his involvement in the festival and sentenced to six years in federal prison.
In April 2020, McFarland’s lawyers requested that he be granted early prison release due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus in the prison, arguing that his pre-existing health conditions, including asthma and “extreme” allergies”, made him vulnerable to the virus.
“Mr McFarland is not a risk to the community nor a threat to public safety,” they wrote, in documents obtained by The Wrap.
“The crime to which he pleaded guilty for was the non-violent financial crime of wire fraud. However, he is [at] a low risk of recidivism for such financial crimes as he has explained that he has a supportive family that has attested to providing for his basic needs.”
The scandal of Fyre Festival was detailed in two documentaries, Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened and Hulu’s Fyre Fraud, both of which were released in 2019.
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