Aussie model Shanina Shaik finally breaks silence over Fyre Festival fiasco

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll undoubtedly know about the Fyre Festival fiasco, which has been gaining traction again due to the explosive Netflix documentary, Fyre: The Great Party That Never Happened.

In short Fyre was advertised as a “luxury music festival” in the Bahamas, founded by Billy McFarland who roped many A-list models into promoting the event, but it turned out to be a total disaster.

Fyre Festival turned out to be a total disaster. Source: Netflix
Fyre Festival turned out to be a total disaster. Source: Netflix

Rather than the luxury accommodation, food and experience that festival-goers were offered, they got relief disaster tents and cheese sandwiches.

One of the A-list models included Aussie Shanina Shaik who has now, for the first time, broken her silence on her involvement in the festival and her appearance in the documentary.

Shanina Shaik has broken her silence about Fyre Festival. Source: Instagram/Shanina Shaik
Shanina Shaik has broken her silence about Fyre Festival. Source: Instagram/Shanina Shaik

“I cried when I watched it,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

The 27-year-old called the whole incident “horrific”, and insisted she and her model friends – including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin and Emily Ratajkowski – were just “dragged into it”.

“We would never want to promote something like that or take someone’s money,” she continued.

Hailey Baldwin, Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Em Rata were all involved in promoting the festival. Source: Instagram
Hailey Baldwin, Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Em Rata were all involved in promoting the festival. Source: Instagram

Shanina also insisted if she had known the scam Fyre Festival turned out to be, she would have “never ever” promoted it.

“When a client comes to my agent and has a vision or a project they want to work with us on, my agency always makes sure we are protected and looked after,” she told the publication.

In October festival founder McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of fraud.

Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in jail in October. Source: Netflix
Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in jail in October. Source: Netflix

Models including Kendall, Bella, Emily and Elsa Hosk – and the agencies who represent them – may also face the consequences of the fraud festival, and are reportedly set to be subpoenaed by a court in order to discover how much each of them were paid to promote the event, according to Billboard.

Kendall, 23, was paid a reported $250,000 ($350,000 AUD) to post about the festival on social media.

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