Billy McFarland of Fyre Fest Infamy, Just Beat the Brakes Off a YouTuber in His Karate Combat Debut. Bonus: Joe Rogan and Shane Gillis Were There.
The key moment in this trailer for the legendary Netflix documentary on the Fyre Festival debacle is when Billy McFarland's former assistant asks of his boss, "Is he a genius, or is he a madman?" And then answers the question with "He's a liar."
And to that I ask, "Why can't he be all three?"
There was a time when you used to hear an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote used all the time when talking about famous people. And it goes, "There are no second acts in American lives." I never really understood it. And though it might have been true when Ol' F said it, for sure it no longer is. I mean, let's just take a brief look at how many acts McFarland lived since he became a household name.
First of course, came the Fyre Fest fiasco. Then prison. Then prison fame:
Followed by a sort of Jordan Belfort-style post-prison comeback:
Then a return to the Fyre Fest con game:
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That alone is more acts than Wagner's Ring Cycle. And it's only a partial list.
Yet of all the turns, pivots, zigs and zags McFarland's public life has taken, none is more bizarre than this latest one. I don't think there's a person alive who watched this doughy, unimposing, unremarkable grifter pathetically lie, excuse, and deflect his way through the aftermath of Fyre and see a future martial arts badass. But like the Tweet says, we're living in a simulation:
And as it turns out, the guy McFarland beat the bag out of wasn't just some random opponent. The Karate Combat equivalent of a masked wrestler from Parts Unknown. Like the tag line of a lazily written action movie sequel, this time it was personal:
Source - Fyre Fest fraudster Billy McFarland shocked the crypto and combat sports world Thursday night, defeating the heavily favored crypto YouTuber Justin “Jchains” Custardo via TKO during the main event of Karate Combat’s Influencer Fight Club series at the Consensus conference in Austin, Texas.
Custardo, the co-founder of the Web3 Breakfast Club channel, had trained for months for the bout, promising revenge for the investors who lost $26 million on McFarland’s fraudulent Fyre Fest. But Custardo quickly ran out of gas in the second round of the wild MMA-style fight and had no defense against a barrage of right crosses thrown by McFarland. With less than 20 seconds left, McFarland finished off Custardo with a knee strike and several punches, sending the gassed out content creator to the mat for the final time.
Let this be a lesson for everyone who got defrauded by a ridiculously implausible-sounding concert experience: You can't always put your faith in a crypto YouTuber to find you justice. Despite Jchains noble intentions, and all the time and effort he put into delivering the sweet roundhouse kick of vengeance on McFarland on your behalf, sometimes Evil defeats Good.
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And on very rare occasions, Evil's triumph happens in front of a massive audience that includes the world's most popular YouTuber and the hottest working comic in America. Making the victory all the more complete.
Granted, this win doesn't redeem McFarland by any stretch. He's still an incorrigible asshole who robbed people of $26 million and doesn't have a nickel to show for it. I mean, to steal all that money and not have kept any for yourself is indecent. And unAmerican. But if you're going to try to defeat him in a Trial by Karate Combat, you've got to choose your champion more wisely. This was worst outcome in one of these things since The Viper vs. The Mountain. (NSFL):
I guess we can only conclude that four years in prison, making friends with The Situation, authoring books and podcasting does a body good. Now I can't wait to see what the next chapter is for this guy. And the people he defrauded can only hope there's still a severe asskicking in his future.