‘Fyre Festival 2.0’: People Are Losing It Over The Laughably Shoddy Accommodations At The Shady Qatar World Cup ‘Fan Village’

This year’s World Cup was a mess even before it began. Qatar, located in west Asia, has proven a controversial choice of host, infamous for its human rights violations. Indeed, thousands of migrant workers have died over the 12 years it took to prepare for it event. In protest, multiple big name artists have declined offers to play. Now some of the estimated 1.5 million planning to attend the month-long event are in for a rude awakening.

As Qatar is located on a peninsula smaller than Connecticut, getting accommodations has proven difficult. There are simply not enough hotels to house the large throngs; Airbnbs have inevitably proven too expensive for many. The solution: Paying around $200 a night — over 29 days — to stay in the Fan Village Cabins Free Zone, a series of makeshift portacabins located in the desert, about a 20-minute metro ride away from the city of Doha, where the matches take place.

Mere hours before the World Cup was set to kick off on Sunday, parts of the Fan Village were still under construction. Those that arrived on time were in for a rude awakening. Cabins made of thick plastic that were too hot during the day, equipped not with air conditioners but simple electric fans. The showers and sinks spewed brown water.

In other words, it didn’t exactly look like a pleasant getaway.

Sure enough, comparisons to the notorious failed Fyre Festival of 2017, which ended with its co-founder, con artist Billy McFarland, sentenced to six years in prison. Currently in a halfway house, he’s of course angling for a Mulligan.

There is a Plan B: Some fans are expected to stay in neighboring countries, flying in for key matches. But not everyone has the scratch to repeatedly hop on planes in the span of a month. Anyway, what a mess.

(Via CNN)