Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland launching “Dumpster Fyre” podcast from prison

Lis Sinatra

Remember Billy McFarland? The Fyre Festival founder has been serving time (six years, to be exact) in Lisbon, OH's Elkton Federal Correctional Institution for multiple counts of fraud in connection with the failed festival. Earlier this year he was trying to launch a new project to help connect prisoners with their loved ones on the outside amid coronavirus. Six months later, he's got yet another new project in the works. Speaking to The Daily Mail, he says he's launching a podcast. It was recorded over a series of 15-minute phone interviews from prison, and he's picked the perfect name for it, "Dumpster Fyre." Its preview on Apple promises, "At long last, the uncensored, complete story of Fyre Festival. With Billy McFarland. And many others." You can hear a teaser clip, and see a couple of new pictures from his Instagram, below.

In a clip of the podcast, which was obtained by Daily Mail, Billy, speaking to Jordan Harbinger of the Jordan Harbinger Show, says, "I'm not going to hide behind my mistakes, I'm going to share everything that happened."

"When I think about the mistakes that were made and what happened, there's no way that I can describe it but just, 'What the fuck was I thinking?,'" he continues.

About some things, however, Billy insists that any mistakes made weren't by him. Take, for instance, the promised luxury beachside villas for VIP guests. "We had certainly put in the time, effort and funding to secure the villas," he says in the clip Daily Mail obtained. "For a period of four to six weeks before the festival, we actually rented over 200 separate villas and houses."

Later, though, he says the head of the team that had rented the villas made off with a box of keys and an Excel sheet detailing which property each went with. Despite all this, he continues, "I know some of the guests found their way to the villas and many of them stayed their for the full week, and I'm hoping we can get some of them on to tell their story."

Billy also talks about his post-Fyre fake ticketing scheme on the podcast, according to The Daily Mail. In the clip they heard, he says, "This took me the longest to be truthful to myself about what really happened. I think I was just in denial for so long that I could have possibly followed up such a fucked up event with another mistake, especially while being out on bail. I was desperate and thought I could dig myself out of the hole."

Proceeds from the podcast, which is set to be released today (10/20), will go towards paying the $26 million Billy owes in restitution.