'Fyre Festival' is becoming a catch-all for tons of failed events. Here are things that have been compared to the doomed 'luxury' festival in the Bahamas.

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'Fyre Festival' is becoming a catch-all for tons of failed events. Here are things that have been compared to the doomed 'luxury' festival in the Bahamas.

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Fyre Festival

YouTube/Fyre Festival

Fyre Festival promised exclusivity and luxury.

  • Fyre Festival has become one of the most infamous failures of the decade.
  • Since the doomed music festival unraveled in the Bahamas, many have referred to other schemes as "the new Fyre Festival."

The image of a cold cheese sandwich tucked into a polystyrene takeout box will forever remind people of the broken promises of 2017's Fyre Festival, which has become one the most infamous failed events of the decade.

The "exclusive" three-day party, which turned into a nightmarish event that left attendees scrambling to get away, resulted in a six-year prison sentence for creator Billy McFarland after he admitted to defrauding investors out of $26 million. 

Read more: Here's everything we know about Billy McFarland, the 27-year-old who created the disastrous Fyre Festival and who's now serving a 6-year prison sentence

Since then, the festival has become a reference point for many other schemes, with the commonalities being that expecations fell well short of reality. 

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Here is a selection of events that have been compared to Fyre Festival in recent years:

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Caroline Calloway's "creativity workshops"

Caroline Calloway's "creativity workshops"

27-year-old Instagram influencer and writer Caroline Calloway came under scrutiny in January after a viral Twitter thread claimed that her $165 "creativity workshops" were a "scam."

It transpired that Calloway was very unprepared for the tour she had scheduled: venues weren't secured, planned activities never happened, and she was reportedly even considering asking people to bring their own food despite promising a salad lunch.

Her supporters said she was simply "in over her head," but others drew comparisons to the infamous Fyre Festival.

Calloway listened to her critics and briefly canceled her tour before reinstating it a day later.

"I canceled my tour because I was frightened and feeling worthless because if you read enough bad things about yourself on the internet you will start to believe they're true," she wrote in an Instagram story in January. "You can't let the people who despise you run your f---ing life."

Read more: I attended Instagram influencer Caroline Calloway's 5-hour, $165 creativity workshop that people have called a 'scam.' Here's what it was like inside.

Atomic Wings Superbowl

An Atomic Wings restaurant located in New York City's East Village was accused of being the the "Fyre Festival of Wings" earlier this month after dozens of angry customers took to social media to complain that the food they had preordered for the Super Bowl did not arrive.

"0 wings delivered after 12 hrs for super bowl. Place is a sham. Scam. Fyre festival of Wings," one Yelp user wrote at the time.

The restaurant later said that an equipment failure was behind the massive delays, according to Eater New York.

Me and a few of my closest friends trying to figure out if we’re getting our @AtomicWings before the #NYJets or #NYGiants make the Super Bowl #youhadonejob pic.twitter.com/Mr1vgNrFg3

— Eamon McAnaney (@emacSNY) February 3, 2019

@AtomicWings I ordered 100 wings from your East Village location that were supposed to come at 4pm and still have not been delivered. I have called and the line is constantly busy, I’ve emailed and no one responded. Can you help please??

— Alex Cirillo (@MissCirillo) February 3, 2019
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New York City Pizza Festival

A pizza festival that took place in Brooklyn, New York, in September 2017 and promised to be "a day-long celebration of the dough, cheese, tasty sauces, and delicious toppings" was dubbed the "Fyre Festival" of pizza parties.

Attendees, who spent as much as $75 on tickets to the event, were expecting to sample tasty slices from various New York pizzerias. Instead, they were given "tiny slivers" of cold pizza, one attendee said.

The organizers of the festival sent out an apology message on Facebook during the event, warning ticket holders not to come to the evening's tastings because of delays in pizza delivery.

It was subsequently investigated by the New York Attorney General, and ticket holders were refunded.

Furious Foodies Call Brooklyn Pizza Festival The 'Fyre Festival' Of NYC Food Events https://t.co/uNr8CdSi2f pic.twitter.com/RaSEQVn8qc

— Gothamist (@Gothamist) September 11, 2017

WinterFest

WinterFest

WinterFest was primed to bring a winter wonderland to Brooklyn, with a pop-up Christmas town occupying a 40,000-square-foot space on the grounds of the Brooklyn Museum during the most recent holiday season.

While entrance to the fair was free, some customers described paid attractions as a "complete scam." Many of the attractions were either incomplete or closed.

According to The New York Post, a $50 VIP wine tasting that had promised to include five wines, Champagne, and access to the chocolate tasting was actually a four-wine tasting with wine that retailed for less than $10, mulled wine, and nothing else.

In response to the complaints, Winterfest made all the attractions free to the public on December 6 through the end of that month, Gothamist reported. The event organizers also refunded any visitors who had paid for attractions that were not open.

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XO Festival

XO Festival

XO Festival, a high-end music festival that was meant to take place over a weekend in July 2018 in Northern California, was canceled at the last minute after artists pulled out and the venue said the organizers had not fulfilled "contractual obligations."

The three-day festival, which promised to have performances from more than 100 different artists, including Ludacris, charged between $375 and $2,495 for tickets.

In a statement to the press, the organizers said that the festival was canceled due "to lower than anticipated ticket sales."

"People here are joking it was turning into the Bay Area's Fyre Fest," Adam Brooks, a manager of artist Dangermaker, who was meant to perform at the festival, told Rolling Stone at the time.

Brooks described the experience as "super shady," with "no compensation for us, no contract, no details."