Sometimes GoFundMe’s can be funny, or just downright stupid. But sometimes they are necessary, and this is that time!
If you happened to tune into Netflix’s recent documentary on the Fyre Festival, you were greeted by one of the Bahamian workers involved: Maryann Rolle. Rolle operated one of the restaurants serving Bahamian workers and Fyre festival staff members. She, like dozens of others, was left to struggle following the event. Speaking in the new Netflix documentary, Rolle explains that she lost $50,000 (£39,000) of her life savings in an attempt to prepare food for the event.
After the documentary aired, Rolle took to the internet to help fix the wrong. She launched a GoFundMe to turn her life around and get some of the workers paid.
“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.”
As of this morning, the GoFundMe reached $130,000, which is over $7,000 more than the established goal. Congrats to Rolle, and hopefully this eases the burden caused by the Fyre festival wrongdoings.
The planned music festival, which was scheduled to take place on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma over two weekends in April and May 2017, was uncovered as a fraudulent mess. This resulted in founder Billy McFarland being sent to prison.