Fyre Festival organisers face $100m 'Hunger Games' lawsuit

Fyre Festival organisers, rapper Ja Rule and businessman Billy McFarland, have been hit with a $100m (£78m) lawsuit. On 28 April, the Bahamas-based music event was "postponed".

Festival-goer Daniel Jung filed the lawsuit alongside his attorney Ben Meiselas, of Los Angeles law firm Geragos & Geragos. He tweeted the first few pages of the suit, claiming that "refunding [attendees'] ticket price is not enough!"

"The festival's lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care created a dangerous and panicked situation among attendees – suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions – that was closer to The Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies than Coachella," the court filing states.

"Festival-goers survived on bare rations, little more than bread and a slice of cheese, and tried to escape the elements in the only shelter provided by the Defendants: small clusters of 'FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] tents' exposed on a sand bar, that were soaked and battered by wind and rain."

The lawsuit, which Meiselas hopes will encourage other attendees to join in a class-action, goes on to claim that because the event was "cashless" – with guests instructed to upload funds to a wristband rather than bring money with them – the attendees were "unable to purchase basic transportation on local taxis or buses" to escape. It even says that "one attendee suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness after being locked inside a nearby building waiting to be airlifted from the island.

"The Fyre Festival was nothing more than a get-rich-quick scam from the very beginning."

The deposition called out the festival on account of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Tickets to the planned event cost anywhere from from $1,000 to $125,000 for luxury group packages which was formerly set to run in two parts: 28-30 April and 5-7 May on the private Fyre Cay in the Grand Bahamas Exuma Island chain. The line-up was intended to include Migos, Major Lazer, Skepta, Disclosure and headliners Blink-182.

Before the court allegations were filed, the festival addressed the backlash in a series of tweets on Twitter, saying: "Due to unforeseen and extenuating circumstances, Fyre Festival has been fully postponed... After assessing the situation this morning and looking at best options for our guests, we cannot move forward as we hoped we could...

"At this time, we are working tirelessly to get flights scheduled and get all travelers home safely... Yesterday was a very challenging day for us + our guests. #FyreFestival is a dream & vision we poured our hearts & souls into creating, 2017 fell dramatically short of even modest expectations. We're heartbroken that we let down all the guests who put their faith in us.

"To our guests and staff – thank you again for your all patience as we navigate our next steps. We owe you an apology. Guests have been sent a form that will provide the necessary information to apply for a refund."