By Edaein OConnell
21st Jan 2019
21st Jan 2019
Maryann and Elvis Rolle, the Fyre Festival workers who lost their savings due to the doomed festival, have raised thousands of dollars via a GoFundMe page after the airing of the Netflix documentary ‘Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened’.
The festival was touted to rich millennials as an exclusive event with private jets and yachts, luxury villas, A-list performers and celebrities but the reality of the event was much different.
Revellers who made their way to the island of Exuma in the Bahamas and paid up to $4,000 for a ticket were greeted with hurricane tents for accommodation, a lack of running water and food and no performers. However, it was the Exuma Point Resort owner Maryann who struck a chord with most viewers.
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Maryann and Elvis Rolle lost $50,000 of their life savings paying employees who worked around the clock to make up to 1,000 meals per day for festival staff. These expenses were never covered by Fyre Festival. Since the airing of the documentary on Netflix, a GoFundMe page which was set up by Maryann and Elvis has raised over $128,000 of a $123,000 goal.
On the GoFundMe page, Mrs Rolle writes “As I make this plea it’s hard to believe and embarrassing to admit that I was not paid…I was left in a big hole! My life was changed forever, and my credit was ruined by Fyre Fest.
My only resource today is to appeal for help. There is an old saying that goes ‘bad publicity is better than no publicity’ and I pray that whoever reads this plea is able to assist.”
Some have questioned the legitimacy of the GoFundMe page however Gabrielle Bluestone, an executive producer of the documentary, shared the page on her Twitter account citing that it was the “official GoFundMe page” of Maryann Rolle.
For those of you asking how to help Maryann Rolle, the Bahamian woman who spent $50,000 of her savings to feed the local laborers who worked on the Fyre Festival, she has an official gofundme page here: https://t.co/eLawHgE92E
— Gabrielle Bluestone (@g_bluestone) January 18, 2019
Photo: Netflix
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