Blink-182’s Matt Skiba Claims His ‘Witchy Ways’ Doomed Fyre Festival
Blink-182‘s Matt Skiba believes his pagan energy may have doomed Fyre Festival, which they were slated to perform at, in April. Major Lazer, Migos and Disclosure were also on the luxury festival’s bill. All of the acts had pulled out of the commitment just ahead of the festival’s implosion that weekend.
“I had a bad feeling about that event,” Skiba told NME. “I consider myself a pagan and a witch. With every inch of my energy I wanted Fyre not to happen. I put all the electricity and energy in my body against that thing happening.”
The destination festival was set to occur in the Bahamas. The ticket price for the luxe event cost between $5,000 and $25,000. Models like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner had been involved in publicizing the event, which intentionally drew “influencers” in lucrative fields like tech and finance. The indulgent vibe set against a backdrop of the Bahamas’ impoverished communities further fueled Skiba’s discomfort with participating in the event.
“I’ve been to the Bahamas and it’s so crass,” Skiba continued. “You land in Nassau and the whole island is replete with beauty and culture, but there’s a lot of poverty. It is a largely black population then they build these places like Atlantis and the Cove that are walled off. It’s classist and racist and then they decided to park a bunch of yachts with models to show off in front of these poor people, going down there with all your Ferraris and bullshit and yachts.”
Before the festival launched, Blink-182 canceled the appearance due to technical and logistical issues. Skiba believes that his own “witchy ways” had something to do with the way the entire weekend ended up devolving. “I’ll take responsibility and everyone can blame me. Shazam. I was on my couch feeling somewhat guilty, but very relieved that I wasn’t there with people stealing from each other.”
The real blame has landed on Billy McFarland, the entrepreneur who organized the weekend with help from his business partner Ja Rule. Last month, he was arrested and charged with wire fraud and can face up to 20 years in prison.