Internet raises $160,000 for restaurant owner from 'Fyre' Netflix doc

"I had to literally pay all those people."
 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 

Even if you missed the news about Fyre Festival when it went viral back in 2017, chances are you'll have heard the name again recently.

The disastrous cancelled music festival, which led to bankruptcy, widespread money loss and a six-year prison sentence for founder Billy McFarland, has been the subject of two recent documentaries on Hulu and Netflix.

One of the people affected was restaurant owner and Great Exuma resident Maryann Rolle, who prepared food for the event.

"I had 10 persons working with me just preparing food all day and all night, 24 hours," she said in an emotional interview for Netflix's FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. "I had to literally pay all those people."

Well, her situation has clearly captured the heart of the internet.

A GoFundMe campaign set up by Rolle has now flown past its target, raising close to $160,000 in eight days. The campaign was verified by GoFundMe on Twitter.

“This has been an incredible outpouring of support for workers affected by the Fyre festival," said a GoFundMe spokesperson.

"As ever, we’ll be working with the campaign organiser to make sure funds get to the right place safely and smoothly.”

The director of Netflix's documentary, Chris Smith, confirmed to BuzzFeed that there are also plans to create a campaign for the other Bahamian workers involved with the festival who lost out on money.

On Sunday, Rolle took to Facebook to thank her supporters.

Mashable has reached out to Rolle, and we will update this article if we receive a response.

Topics Netflix

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Sam Haysom

Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.

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