Lifestyle

Fyre Fest Founder Billy McFarland Says Pre-Sale for Sequel Is Worth $110M

Published

2 years ago

February 29, 2024

Fyre Fest Founder Billy McFarland Says Pre-Sale for Sequel Is Worth 0M

Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland is proving folks can’t resist a good comeback … ’cause the pre-sale for the sequel to his infamous music event has made him a boatload of cash!

Billy boasted about this achievement on IG Thursday — and he confirmed to TMZ as well … saying FYRE Festival II has received applications for over $110,000,000 worth of tickets during its second and final pre-sale — an impressive feat compared to sluggish Coachella.

OCTOBER 2022

Pre-sale tickets started up at $2,500 and soared up to a whopping $1M per ticket for the festival which is set for its Caribbean return in December … and we’re told that 40 of those ticket holders were invited to celebrate the $110M figure during an intimate dinner Wednesday night at Le Baratin in NYC.

March 2023

While he’s made another fortune, it looks like Billy’s learned a few lessons — ’cause this time around he’s leaving it to the pros and letting his operation partners and entertainment bigwigs call the main shots at the festival.

TMZ.com

Billy himself said in his IG clip Thursday that the next time people would hear from him was when his partners would officially announce the event … so he’s covering his bases here.

His do-over got off to a flying start when pre-sale was first announced in August 2023. Back then, they released 100 tickets, and they all sold out in a day!

Fyre Festival Fail

Billy attributed the success to the massive curiosity and interest generated by the epic failure of the 2017 Fyre Fest, telling TMZ at the time that he’s living proof of the saying “no publicity is bad publicity.”

TMZ Studios

You’ll recall … Billy served 4 years in prison for wire fraud related to the OG Fyre Fest disaster. Clearly, he’s hoping FYRE Festival II doesn’t go up in smoke like the first one — and so far, it sounds like it’s still got the interest of a lot of party-goers who are down to rage.

Lifestyle

‘Wait Wait’ for February 28. 2026: Live in Bloomington with Lilly King!

Published

4 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

‘Wait Wait’ for February 28. 2026: Live in Bloomington with Lilly King!

An underwater view shows US’ Lilly King competing in a heat of the women’s 200m breaststroke swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on July 31, 2024. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP) (Photo by FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT/AFP via Getty Images)

François-Xavier Marit/Getty Images

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François-Xavier Marit/Getty Images

This week’s show was recorded in Bloomington, Indiana with host Peter Sagal, judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Lilly King and panelists Alonzo Bodden, Josh Gondelman, and Faith Salie. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.

Who’s Bill This Time

State of the Union is Hot; The Tribal Council Convenes Again; A Glow Up In the Doll Aisle

Panel Questions

The Toot Tracker

Bluff The Listener

Our panelists tell three stories about a travel hack in the news, only one of which is true.

Not My Job: Olympic Swimmer Lilly King answers our questions about Lil’ Kings

Olympic Swimmer Lilly King plays our game called, “Lilly King meet these Lil’ Kings” Three questions about short kings.

Panel Questions

Cleaning Out The Cabinet; Bedtime Stacking

Limericks

Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: Getting Cozy With Cross Country Skiing; Pickleball’s New Competition; Bees Get Freaky

Lightning Fill In The Blank

All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else

Predictions

Our panelists predict, after American Girls, what’ll be the next toy to get an update.

Lifestyle

Zendaya and Tom Holland Are Married, Her Longtime Stylist Claims

Published

5 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Zendaya and Tom Holland Are Married, Her Longtime Stylist Claims

Law Roach
Zendaya and Tom’s Wedding Already Happened …
Y’all Missed It!!!

Published
March 1, 2026
6:34 PM PST

Zendaya and Tom Holland are married … so claims her longtime stylist, Law Roach.

Here’s the deal … the celebrity stylist — who started styling Zendaya way back in 2011 — spoke to Access Hollywood on the Actors Awards red carpet where he sang out “The wedding has already happened, you missed it.”

Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.

The AH reporter asks in shock if that’s true … and, Law responds by saying it’s “very true” before walking off.

This isn’t the first time Tom and Zendaya’s relationship status has made headlines on a red carpet … remember at the Golden Globes in 2025, Zendaya had a ring on that finger — and, the next day, we found out the two were engaged.

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TMZ.com

Zendaya and Tom met on the set of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” in 2016, started dating a couple years later and went public with their relationship in 2021.

We’ve reached out to Tom and Zendaya’s teams … so far, no word back.

Lifestyle

Bet on Anything, Everywhere, All at Once : Up First from NPR

Published

16 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Bet on Anything, Everywhere, All at Once : Up First from NPR

Online prediction market platforms allow people to place bets on wide-ranging subjects such as sports, finance, politics and currents events.

Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images

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Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The rise of prediction markets means you can now bet on just about anything, right from your phone. Apps like Kalshi and Polymarket have grown exponentially in President Trump’s second term, as his administration has rolled back regulations designed to keep the industry in check. Billions of dollars have flooded in, and users are placing bets on everything from whether it will rain in Seattle today to whether the US will take over control of Greenland. Who’s winning big on these apps? And who is losing? NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn joins The Sunday Story to explain how these markets came to be and where they are going.

This episode was produced by Andrew Mambo. It was edited by Liana Simstrom and Brett Neely. Fact-checking by Barclay Walsh and Susie Cummings. It was engineered by Robert Rodriguez.

We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at TheSundayStory@npr.org.

Listen to Up First on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.