Kendall Jenner has been hit with a big bill for her involvement in the 2017 disaster that was Fyre Festival. The model was hired to help promote the inaugural event, which famously stranded festivalgoers on an island with no food, shelter or bathrooms.The $90,000 that Jenner has been ordered to repay is less than half of the $275,000 that was initially on the table by the Fyre Festival organizers to promote the event on social media. Jenner’s new bill is part of a settlement over the 2019 lawsuit filed by trustee Gregory Messer that targeted her, as well as several other celebrities who were involved in promoting the music festival. In addition to Jenner, model Emily Ratajkowski as well as scheduled performers Migos, Pusha T, Blink-182 and Lil Yachty were all named in the lawsuit.[video_embed id='1613304']RELATED: Ja Rule wants to make Fyre Festival happen for real[/video_embed]Jenner promoted the festival on her Instagram account in a now-deleted post, writing "So hyped to announce my G.O.O.D Music Family as the first headliners for @fyrefestival. Use my promo code KJONFYRE for the next 24 hours to get on the list for the artists and talents afterparty on Fyre Cay." According to court documents obtained by
E! News, this post misled Jenner’s followers to believe that her brother-in-law and G.O.O.D. Music founder Kanye West would be performing at Fyre Festival. “This conduct demonstrates a clear lack of good faith on Jenner's part," the lawsuit read. Additionally, Jenner also received a warning from the Federal Trade Commission for not disclosing that she was paid for her Instagram post. In case you doubted how important those #ad inclusions are.Touted as a luxury music festival that would provide high-end accommodations on a beautiful island in the Bahamas, Fyre Festival was created by businessman Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. The fraudulent festival made headlines and has been the subject of two documentaries for its epic downfall. Festival goers arrived to an unfinished event that resulted in attendees fighting over dirty mattresses and cheese sandwiches. People were stranded for days on Exuma Island and musical acts canceled after finding out the stage they were set to perform on was unsafe.In 2017, Jenner and Ratajkowski were paid to appear along with several other models in a promotional video for Fyre Festival, including Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber. Hadid has since
apologized for her involvement and Bieber donated her
paycheque to charity. The promo was filmed on Norman’s Cay where the fest was originally scheduled to take place, but McFarland violated his agreement with the owners by publicizing the location as an island once owned by Medellin drug leader Pablo Escobar, forcing a last minute venue change that McFarland never disclosed to the public.Attendees were charged between $500 and $12,000 to attend Fyre Festival, which was scheduled to take place over two weekends in April 2017. Local workers and businesses scrambled to put the event together in less than two months and many went without pay. In 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud and was ordered to forfeit the $26 million he raised from investors.In a 2019
interview with
The New York Times, Jenner addressed her involvement with Fyre Festival. "You get reached out to by people to, whether it be to promote or help or whatever, and you never know how these things are going to turn out, sometimes it’s a risk," said Jenner. "I definitely do as much research as I can, but sometimes there isn’t much research you can do because it’s a starting brand and you kind of have to have faith in it and hope it will work out the way people say it will. You never really know what’s going to happen."[video_embed id='-1']RELATED: Kendall Jenner reveals why she keeps her love life private[/video_embed]
