Fyre Fest's $175,000 Blow Job Isn't Funny—It's Sexual Harassment

"Take one big thing for the team."

That's what event producer Andy King was allegedly told by his boss, Fyre Media CEO Billy McFarland, when he instructed him to "suck d*ck" to save $175,000 of water from Bahamian Customs. 

The shocking details emerged in Netflix's documentary FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, chronicling 2017's disastrously viral Fyre Festival (making the festival, once again, all the internet can talk about). The film details the extreme lengths McFarland went through to put on a luxury music festival in the Bahamas, the inevitable implosion of the poorly planned event, and shows exactly how he effectively scammed millions of dollars from the attendees, investors, Bahamian workers, and even his own employees.

But through all the chaos, the internet has dubbed King "a hero" for his willingness to perform oral sex on a customs agent for four withheld eighteen-wheeler trucks filled with Evian water.

"This won't go that far, I'm sure," King begins the story nervously in the documentary. It's unclear if he's aware that this part of his story will make into the finished film.

"Billy called and said 'Andy we need you to take one big thing for the team.' And I said, 'Oh my gosh, I've been taking something for the team every day.' And he said, 'Well, you're our wonderful gay leader and we need you to go down. Will you...suck d*ck to fix this water problem?'"

"I said, 'Billy, what?' And he said, 'Andy, if you will go down and suck Cunningham's d*ck, who's the head of customs, and get him to clear all of the containers with water, you will save this festival.'"

Just to be clear, that kind of instruction from a supervisor is at the very least sexual harassment, at worst sexual assault and exploitation. King's next words showed the true weight of McFarland's manipulation and abuse. 

"I literally drove home, took a shower, I drank some mouthwash. I'm like, 'Oh my gosh...I'm really'—and I got into my car to drive across the island to take one for the team. And I got to his office fully prepared to suck his d*ck."

Luckily for King, he didn't have to extend the offer as the customs agent didn't use his power to be an abusive piece of sh*t.

"He couldn’t have been nicer," King said. "And he’s like 'Andy, listen, I will release all the water, I will let you serve it, but I want to be one of the first people to be paid this import fee for what you’re doing.' And I said, 'Okay, great,' and I got back, and I had all the water that we needed."

He laughs uncomfortably and continues: 

"Can you imagine? In my thirty year career that this is what I was going to do? I was going to do that, honestly, to save the festival." Later in the documentary, King even says the whole Fyre Fest experience gave him post-traumatic stress disorder. 

King isn't a hero for his willingness to do the unthinkable, but another victim of abuse. It's disheartening to know that a man was almost coerced into giving someone oral sex for an unpaid water bill, but the internet making a joke out of King's trauma is downright abhorrent. 

Those who are minimizing the experience as a laughing matter are directly contributing to the normalization of sexual assault and rape culture, especially in the era of the #MeToo movement. Do better, y'all.

It's also unclear if the documentary is responsible for outing this Bahamian customs agent as a man interested in men. Did McFarland send King to do this illicit activity because the customs agent is gay?  

This could put him in a dangerous position. While gay sex is technically legal in the Bahamas, LGBTQ people there face widespread discrimination in employment and health care and cannot legally get married.

Just another loose end the Fyre Festival has so irresponsibly left dangling in the wind.