Latest news with #JaRule
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Billy McFarland sells Fyre Festival brand for $245K
Billy McFarland has sold the Fyre Festival brand on eBay. The creator of the festival revealed that he had sold his brand, months after announcing it was for sale. The highest bid of the 175 that came in on Tuesday was $245,300 (£183,150). According to a report by NBC, the businessman livestreamed the auction and said, "Damn. This sucks, it's so low," to the winning bid. The unknown buyer now owns the "Fyre Festival - iconic brand, trademarks, IP, social media assets and more", according to the listing. "This is your opportunity to take control of a brand that still trends every time it's mentioned." McFarland shared an update on the sale on Instagram via what appears to be a Notes app screenshot. "I would like to congratulate the winning bidder in the Fyre Festival IP auction on eBay. I look forward to working with them to begin the process to finalise the sale." The disgraced businessman called the festival "one chapter of my story" and said he's "excited to move on to my next one". The social media post claimed that the auction was the "most-watched non-charity listing on eBay" while it was live. McFarland said that this proves "attention is currency, and views are the root of attention". Fyre Festival was a doomed luxury music festival organised by McFarland and US rapper Ja Rule.
CBS News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Nelly is final Minnesota State Fair 2025 Grandstand act to be announced
It will be getting "Hot in Herre" at the Minnesota State Fair when Nelly takes the Grandstand stage to perform. The fair announced its final Grandstand act for 2025 on Tuesday. Nelly will perform at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, with Ja Rule, Mýa and Ying Yang Twins. Tickets go on sale Friday. Seeing the southern hip-hop artist behind hits like "Country Grammar" and "Ride Wit Me" will cost you a minimum of $54. This will be Nelly's first time playing the Grandstand. Previously announced Grandstand shows include Meghan Trainor, Old Dominion, Melissa Etheridge, The Avett Brothers and Def Leppard. The fair runs from Aug. 21 to Sept. 1. Tickets will be $2 more expensive this year. Last week, the fair announced its new foods for 2025, including chicken-fried bacon fries, dill pickle iced tea and more.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Billy McFarland Sells Fyre Festival Brand on Ebay for $245,300
The long, pathetic, sordid, criminal saga of Billy McFarland and the Fyre Festival came to an ignominious end Tuesday afternoon at precisely 12:44:11 pm EST when the convicted fraudster unloaded the brand and all trademarks related to the ill-fated musical festival on eBay for $245,300. McFarland still owes $26 million in restitution related to his wire fraud conviction, so he's going to have to keep scrounging around to raise the remaining $25,754,700. More from Rolling Stone Billy McFarland Is Now Trying to Unload the Fyre Fest Brand on eBay Billy McFarland Is Looking for a Buyer Who Wants to Make Fyre Fest Their Problem Instead Fyre Fest 2 Postponed, Obviously For those of you with no memory of 2017 and somehow missed Hulu's Fyre Fraud and Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, the Fyre Festival was advertised as a luxury musical festival on an island in the Bahamas with lineup that included Blink-182, Pusha T, Tyga, Desiigner, Major Lazer, Disclosure, and Migos. But when fans arrived at the festival site, they were greeted with little more than dinky tents, grounds that resembled a refugee camp, and cheese sandwiches. It turned out that McFarland and his investors, including rapper Ja Rule, didn't have the money, means, or experience to stage the event. A wave of lawsuits followed, and McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison. McFarland was released in 2022 and immediately started to plan a second Fyre Festival. 'We have the chance to embrace this storm and really steer our ship into all the chaos that has happened,' he told NBC. 'And if it's done well, I think Fyre has a chance to be this annual festival that really takes over the festival industry.' Unsurprisingly, McFarland had absolutely no ability to deliver on that promise. This time around, however, the plug was pulled long before any guests arrived. In the aftermath, he decided to cut his losses and forever part ways with the brand. 'This brand is bigger than any one person,' Mr. McFarland said in a statement on Instagram. 'It's clear that I need to step back and allow a new team to move forward independently.' It's unclear who bought it, but they now own the Fyre Festival brand name, the social media accounts, 'comprehensive marketing assets,' the domain names, 'artist & talent relationships,' an 'extensive media coverage archive,' and 'access to the core team (optional).' This poses a few questions. First off, how exactly can 'artist and talent relationships' be sold? And weren't those relationships forever poisoned by the historic debacles of the past? It's hard to imagine that Blink-182's team sees this as a solid relationship. They won't exactly be like, 'A random person bought the Fyre Festival. We're obligated by the terms of an Ebay listing to work with them on their next endeavor, even though we were humiliated and stiffed out of money eight years ago by the original team.' Secondly, it's nice to see that access to McFarland and Ja Rule is optional, but is that really a selling point? They haven't proven themselves very adept at putting on this particular festival. Someone is going to give them a third attempt with their own money on the line? Finally, what exactly is this media archive? Is it linked to online articles documenting the collapse of the festival, the lawsuits that followed, and the pathetic attempt to stage a second one? Did they make a scrapbook of the print articles? These are assets? As we await answers, it's good to know that the Fyre Festival dream isn't dead. It's now in the hands of somebody else with $245,300 to spare. We look forward to seeing what they do with it. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ja Rule Roasts Longtime Enemy 50 Cent Over Concert Video: ‘Ain't Nobody Coming to See You'
Ja Rule clowned his longtime foe 50 Cent after a video circulated allegedly showing a low concert turnout for the G-Unit leader. On Monday (June 30), Ja hopped on X to respond to a fan who had antagonized the rapper by showing that one of 50 Cent's UK tour dates is entirely sold out. The Final Lap tour date was part of a special 2-for-1 offer the G-Unit leader offered in London. Ja clowned him for even having such an offer, which prompted the fan to post a screenshot of the sold-out date. More from Billboard Here's Why Ja Rule Believes the Internet Would've Changed the Course of His Feud With 50 Cent Gavin Adcock Blasts Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' During Concert Rant: 'That S-t Ain't Country Music' Chris Brown Champions T-Pain as 'One of the GOATs' & a 'Pioneer' in Music Following Drake Spat 'You sure bout that???' Ja wrote alongside a video of a crowd that didn't fill the whole floor. 'Ain't nobody coming to see you Otis… I mean Curtis.' When reached by Billboard, a rep for 50 Cent said of the video: 'Like all of Jackson's other tour dates, this show was completely sold out.' Ja's trolling should come as no surprise considering he and 50 Cent have been at odds for years. Most recently, 50 claimed that he bought tickets to one of Ja's shows to make sure seats would be left empty. 'I did [buy Ja Rule's tickets]. They were cheap tickets,' he told Big Boy back in December. 'The tickets were very affordable. They were on StubHub. I bought the first four rows.' He added: 'I looked at it and said, 'I just want you to feel like you gotta reach the people, four or five rows back…It wasn't that big of a sacrifice. I've bought things that mean less to me. That was fun, watching the show and seeing the spaces are empty because they were reserved for someone else.' Check out the clip below. UPDATE: This article was updated with a quote from 50 Cent's team. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Otago Daily Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Obituary: Irv Gotti, music executive
Irv Gotti attends the 2022 MTV VMAs at Prudential Center on August 28, 2022 in Newark, New Jersey. Famed hip-hop music executive Irv Gotti launched the careers of rappers such as Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule in a career which took him from DJing to record company mogul. Born Irving Domingo Lorenzo jun in Queens, Gotti started out as a talent scout for the revered Def Jam label in the mid-1990s, before co-founding the Def Jam secondary label Murder, Inc with his brother Chris. That label helped launch the careers of Ja Rule and Ashanti, among others. Gotti and his brother stood trial in the early 2000s over their ties to a known drug kingpin, but they were both cleared of the charges. The case was closely watched by some of the music industry's biggest stars, and Ja Rule called it a "war against hip-hop". After the trial Gotti moved into broadcasting, first starring in a reality series based on his life, then creating successful hip-hop-inspired anthology series Tales. Diagnosed with diabetes, Gotti struggled to manage the condition and died on February 5 aged 54. — APL/agencies
