The Lady Who Spent Her Entire Life Savings Trying To Feed People At The Fyre Festival Made All The Money Back Through A GoFundMe
Source - A Bahamas restaurateur who lost her personal savings in the notorious Fyre Festival has raised well over $100,000 online after she was featured in Netflix’s new documentary on the disastrous fest.
Maryann Rolle candidly recalls on camera in the Netflix film “Fyre” that her personal savings were drained after she fed stranded fans who descended on the island for the fraught Fyre Fest.
Like others on the island of Great Exuma, she was stiffed by Fyre co-founder Billy McFarland, who’s currently serving six years in jail.
Rolle wrote on a GoFundMe page, “Back in April 2017, I pushed myself to the limit catering no less than a 1,000 meals per day. As I make this plea it’s hard to believe and embarrassing to admit that I was not paid…. I was left in a big hole! My life was changed forever, and my credit was ruined by Fyre Fest.”
By Monday, her page had racked up over $139,000, exceeding a goal of $123,000. Others in the doc also detail how they were left in massive debt thanks to McFarland.
If you watched Netflix’s Fyre Festival documentary, you know who Maryann Rolle is. She’s the angelic caterer who tried to feed thousands of kids and ended up getting stiffed by Billy McFarland. Of all the people in the documentary, she’s the one you felt the most bad for. Not only did she burn through fifty-THOUSAND dollars of her own savings, she got ripped to shreds on social media for what she served. Which to be fair was less than ideal, but at the same time she wasn’t expecting to run a FEMA relief center.
At any rate, all’s well that ends well because she just DOUBLED her money with a GoFundMe. DOUBLED. And she didn’t wait around for someone else to start the page for her, she started it herself. Good for you, Maryann. I wonder if any of the people who loaded up their fake festival bracelets with thousands of dollars of their parents’ money donated to her page? Probably not.
At least all the people who planned the festival yet now pretend they were in the dark about it being a scam donated.
Fyre Festival co-founder Ja Rule posted on Instagram: “My heart goes out to this lovely lady… MaryAnne Rolle we’ve never met but I’m devastated that something that was meant to be amazing, turn out to be such a disaster and hurt so many ppl… SORRY to anyone who has been negatively effected by the festival.”
According to the website, “Fyre” director Chris Smith donated $4,000, producers F–kJerry donated $10,000 and Matte Projects donated $5,000.
Hopefully she’s able to hold onto the money and retire from catering for good. I used to cater when I first moved to the city and it’s the fucking worst. Regardless, congrats on the new found wealth, Maryann. Don’t spend it all in one place.