Ja Rule insists the Fyre Festival disaster is not his fault.
The 41-year-old singer and actor’s luxury music festival in the Bahamas descended into chaos on Friday (28.04.17), when revellers, who had paid thousands of dollars for their tickets, arrived to find "half-built cabanas that were actually disaster relief tents", low-quality food and luggage dumped out of shipping containers.
The festival was quickly cancelled and Ja Rule took to Twitter to "take responsibility" but insist it was not his fault.
He wrote: "We are working right now on getting everyone of the island SAFE that is my immediate concern… I will make a statement soon I’m heartbroken at this moment my partners and I wanted this to be an amazing event it was NOT A SCAM as everyone is reporting I don’t know how everything went so left but I’m working to make it right by making sure everyone is refunded… I truly apologize as this is NOT MY FAULT … but I’m taking responsibility I’m deeply sorry to everyone who was inconvenienced by this… (sic)."
The festival was due to run over two weekends and was billed as a "cultural moment created from an alchemic blend of music, art and food".
Blink-182 cancelled their headlining appearance, saying in a statement: "We’re not confident that we would have what we need to give you the quality of performances we always give fans."
And William Finley, from North Carolina, told Billboard he paid out $2,700 for a luxury ticket, which included accommodation at a villa, but found himself staying in a tent.
He said: "They’re basically disaster relief tents, with a matress on some sort of bed frame. They’re not that uncomfortable, but the tents are so poorly made that they’d blow over in a second if there was any wind or rain."