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Kendall Jenner Thinks $90,000 Fyre Festival Settlement Is a ‘Small Price to Pay’: It Was a ‘Total Fiasco’
Lesson learned. Kendall Jenner thinks her $90,000 settlement for the 2017 Fyre Festival “fiasco” was a “small price to pay” for how much of a disaster it was, a source tells In Touch exclusively.
“Kendall didn’t get involved with the legal ramifications of the lawsuit, she can’t discuss it, but she feels like her team did the right thing, paying back some of the money she got paid from the failed musical festival,” the insider tells In Touch exclusively about the model’s reaction to her settlement.
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 24, has been ordered to shell out the hefty amount after promoting the scandal-plagued event on social media, according to court documents filed on Tuesday, May 19, and obtained by In Touch.
Back in 2017, hundreds of people arrived on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma ready to have the time of their lives after paying large sums of money to participate in what was supposed to be a luxurious event. They quickly discovered it was a venue under construction with less than desirable food, “collapsing tents and soaking wet beds,” as pointed out in Netflix’s Fyre documentary about the “greatest party that never happened.”
Jenner was paid $275,000 to endorse the festival and sued two years later by Gregory Messer, who argued the star didn’t tell her fans she was getting a paycheck for advertising the festival. In August 2019, he said the TV personality made it sound like it would be the event of a lifetime, referencing how she promoted a performance by brother-in-law Kanye West in a now-deleted tweet. “So hyped to announce my G.O.O.D. Music Family as the first headliners for @fyrefestival,” it said.
In the wake of the scandal, festival cofounder Billy McFarland ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud and using fake documents to get $26 million from investors. He is currently serving a six-year sentence in federal prison.
In hindsight, the E! star feels “horrible for all those people who lost money and were left stranded. She does feel that people were scammed, including herself,” the insider reveals. “Some haters are still going to attack her for promoting the festival in the first place and still keeping some of the money.”
“Now, that’s not to say that some on her team didn’t believe she wasn’t liable and shouldn’t have paid back a cent,” the source notes, highlighting that others think it “was a business deal and she did nothing wrong.”
All in all, the Fyre Festival “was an eyeopener for her” and “she hopes something like this never happens again.”
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