Netflix and Hulu have competing docs about the Fyre Festival disaster, and Twitter is loving this drama
The scam that shook festival-goers and aspiring Instagram stars to their core is back—cheese sandwiches and limp salads not included. Just days before Netflix was set to release Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, its highly-anticipated documentary about the disastrous festival that made headlines in 2017, Hulu dropped a similar documentary of its own.
Hulu dropped Fyre Fraudon January 14th, just four days before the Netflix film’s release date. Both documentaries recount the scam, during which partygoers from all over the world arrived—having been promised a Coachella-like music festival in the Bahamas—to find themselves trapped on an island with nothing but tents and cheese sandwiches…and zero musical acts. However, only Fyre Fraud features an interview with the festival’s founder, Billy McFarland, who was recently sentenced to six years in prison for wire fraud.
The failed event, which was co-founded by rapper Ja Rule and promoted by the likes of Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, became a phenomenon, and people all over the world watched as the disaster unfolded.
And we dare say Twitter’s reaction to the drama was on Fyre.
Hulu surprise dropping its Fyre Fest documentary today, mere days before Netflix was set to drop its own, is the level of aggressive pettiness I'm here for pic.twitter.com/hROF7C6HqV
— Caroline Darya Framke (@carolineframke) January 14, 2019
Hulu dropping its Fyre doc 4 days before Netflix's Fyre doc is the kind of glove slap that keeps the streaming war feisty between award-show showdowns pic.twitter.com/IruSocI9oL
— John Jurgensen (@johnjurg) January 14, 2019
I hope we get dueling documentaries about the dueling Fyre Fest documentaries and I hope we just get trapped in an endless cycle of documentary competition. #hope #pray #wish
— Ariel Dumas (@ArielDumas) January 15, 2019
I want to be strapped into a chair and Clockwork Oranged by these dueling Fyre Festival documentaries https://t.co/uZ3Hc0xboh
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) January 14, 2019
false
Someone please do a documentary about the warring Fyre Festival documentaries.
— Christina Warren (@film_girl) January 15, 2019
so which fyre fest doc is the prestige and which is the illusionist
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) January 15, 2019
false
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/1084897260670877696
I want to be strapped into a chair and Clockwork Oranged by these dueling Fyre Festival documentaries https://t.co/uZ3Hc0xboh
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) January 14, 2019
Unsurprisingly, many people had the same joke. false
Guess they decided to fight Fyre with Fyre.
— Justin Devine (@StuffIGeekWith) January 14, 2019
It seems like the drama between the dueling documentaries doesn’t stop at coinciding release dates. Taking the Fyre feud up a notch, the Hulu documentary ends with a not-so-subtle dig at the Netflix one, pointing out that one of the Netflix producers, Jerry Media—better known as the guy behind the popular fuckjerry Instagram page—worked on the marketing for the failed festival.
Meanwhile, Chris Smith, the director of the Netflix documentary, told The Ringer that McFarland requested payment to appear in theirs, adding that Hulu offered him $250,000 in exchange for an interview. Jenner Furst, one of the directors of the Hulu doc, confirmed to The Ringer that McFarland was paid for “licensed behind-the-scenes footage and consent to an eight-hour interview,” but denied the allegation that McFarland was paid $250,000.
It seems the consensus online is that most will be consuming any and all Fyre Festival-related content and wholeheartedly plan on watching both documentaries.
Fyre Fraud is now streaming on Hulu. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is set to hit Netflix on Friday, January 18th.
