Hulu’s ‘Fyre Fraud’ Throws Serious Shade at Netflix’s Fyre Festival Doc

Yesterday, Hulu dropped a surprise Fyre Festival documentary called Fyre Fraud just days before Netflix was set to launch its own. Like Netflix’s FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Fyre Fraud tells the story of the ill-fated Fyre Festival, a music festival marketed to influencers and wealthy millennials that quickly devolved into a world-class shitshow. Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason’s Hulu doc was an immediate hit on social media, with stars like Chrissy Teigen live-tweeting the film, but there’s likely one party that didn’t appreciate all the attention: Netflix. Towards the end of Fyre Fraud, the filmmakers call out Netflix’s FYRE for being co-produced by FuckJerry, the same media company that was responsible for marketing Fyre Festival.
Fyre Fraud features an in-depth interview with former Jerry Media employee Oren Aks, who designed the marketing campaign for Fyre Festival. Over the course of the doc, Aks reveals that he and his team were just as complicit in swindling the public as festival organizers Billy McFarland, who is currently serving a six year prison sentence for crimes connected to the failed event, and Ja Rule, who is facing a civil suit over the festival. “Who’s guilty?” a producer asks towards the end of the film. “Ummm, everyone,” answers a visibly uncomfortable Aks.
Hulu’s doc then concludes with an update (set to “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations) on the various players involved in the festival, including the Jerry Media team. “Jerry Media provided a written statement defending their actions,” a caption reads. The company claims that “all actions taken by Jerry Media were done at the direction of the Fyre Festival” and that Aks, who quit and started his own media company, has “misrepresented” what happened. “I honestly can’t believe this documentary — there are two of them,” said Asks, referencing Netflix’s FYRE. A caption appeared over a photo of the Jerry Media team: “Jerry Media and Vice produced their own documentary about the Fyre Festival,” it reads.

Fyre Fraud never mentions Netflix’s documentary by name, but the allegation is clear: Jerry Media is producing FYRE to cover their tails. On Monday, a source close to the filmmakers told Entertainment Weekly that Nason and Furst are hoping their documentary “will provide enlightening context ahead of [FuckJerry founder Elliot] Tebele’s Netflix documentary.” FYRE filmmakers dismissed allegations of bias, telling EW:

We were happy to work with Jerry Media and a number of others on the film. At no time did they, or any others we worked with, request favorable coverage in our film, which would be against our ethics. We stand behind our film, believe it is an unbiased and illuminating look at what happened, and look forward to sharing it with audiences around the world.

Fyre Fraud is currently streaming on Hulu. FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened hits Netflix on Friday, January 18.

Watch Fyre Fraud on Hulu