Although the 'Always on Time' hitmaker has issued a public apology to Maryann Rolle for the disastrous event, the restaurant owner wants a $100K proof that he was truly sorry.
- Jan 23, 2019
AceShowbiz - Rapper and Fyre Festival co-founder Ja Rule has apologised to a caterer who lost her life savings due to working at the failed event.
Maryann Rolle, a restaurant owner from the Bahamas, sat down for an interview for Netflix's "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened" and fought back tears as she recalled how she had to use $50,000 (£38,000) of her personal savings to feed stranded festivalgoers and pay her staff after Fyre Festival co-founder Billy McFarland and his team failed to pay her for her catering work.
After her story hit headlines, Ja Rule, real name Jeffrey Atkins, shared a picture of Rolle on Instagram and issued an apology to her.
"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... Rule," he wrote.
Rolle responded by telling TMZ.com that he should donate $100,000 (£77,000) to her GoFundMe page if he was truly sorry.
The "Always on Time" hitmaker and McFarland's festival has been dubbed the scam of the century for charging attendees between $5,000 (£3,900) and $250,000 (£194,400) per ticket, boasting shows from major acts like Major Lazer, Tyga, Pusha T, and Desiigner, only to deliver cheese sandwiches and wet tents when it was cancelled almost immediately after it opened in Great Exuma, Bahamas, in April, 2017.
McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud in October (18), and Ja Rule took to social media to protest his innocence following the broadcast of the Netflix documentary and the rival Hulu one, titled "Fyre Fraud", last week.
When asked by a Twitter user why the "feds" weren't after him, he replied, "Cause it wasn't me who scammed ppl (people) Sherlock..."
"Y'all want it to be me sooo bad it's crazy... kinda sad!!! the crazy s**t is I'm watching the docs in awe myself..." he continued. "I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray!!!"
Rolle set up the GoFundMe page following the documentaries and, in just over one week, has already surpassed her $123,000 (£95,000) goal.
McFarland and Ja Rule have been hit with a string of civil lawsuits over the disastrous event.
