RantCrush Top 5: April 28, 2017

Guests at the Fyre Festival–which was being marketed as a Bahamas luxury festival with ticket prices starting at over $4,000–are stuck on an island with little food, no place to stay, and just general chaos. Flights from Miami were canceled and many of the festival’s headliners dropped out at the last minute, but people already on the island are stranded. Tweets appear to show what attendees call the new “Lord of the Flies” or “Hunger Games.” There was supposed to be luxury villas, catered food and lots of beer–while in reality, the only place to stay is in what look like disaster relief tents.

The situation turned so bad that some people may have even turned to the U.S. Embassy for help. It’s not clear whether the embassy actually sent staff, but the festival’s organizers, including artist Ja Rule, will probably face a backlash. In the meantime, people have taken the opportunity to crack jokes about those who were willing to pay thousands of dollars for tickets.

Free idea: Tweets from #fyrefestival dramatically read like Civil War letters in the Ken Burns documentary.

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) April 28, 2017

I can’t figure out what #fyrefestival is, but it seems like rich people having a bad time, which I fully support

— Ethan Rice (@Paradawg) April 28, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.