Bella Hadid feels "so sorry" about the Fyre Festival fiasco.
Bella Hadid
The 20-year-old beauty, along with a number of other famous models including Hailey Baldwin, Chanel Iman and Emily Ratajkowski, had helped promote the luxury festival in the Bahamas and urged their followers to splurge thousands of dollars on tickets for the weekend, but the upmarket event descended into chaos last week when concertgoers arrived to find "half-built cabanas that were actually disaster relief tents", low-quality food and luggage dumped out of shipping containers.
And though Bella insists Fyre was "not [her] project whatsoever", she feels very bad about what has happened.
She wrote on social media: "Hey guys, I just wanted to address Fyre Festival...Even though this was not my project what so ever, nor was I informed about the production or process of the festival in any shape or form, I do know that it has always been out of great intent and they truly wanted all of us to have the time of our lives.
"I initially trusted this would be an amazing & memorable experience for all of us, which is why I agreed to do one promotion...not knowing about the disaster that was to come...
"I feel so sorry and badly because this is something I couldn't stand by, although of course if I would have known about the outcome, you would have all known too.(sic)"
With many revellers left stranded at various airports in the US and Caribbean after the event was cancelled, Bella expressed her hope they had made it back home.
She concluded: "I hope everyone is safe and back with their families and loved ones...xo(sic)"
Meanwhile, Billy McFarland, who co-founded the festival with Ja Rule, has insisted that it will go ahead next year, with free tickets for everyone who was left disappointed.
He said: "There will be make-up dates, May 2018 in the U.S., free for everybody who signed up for this festival. We will donate $1.50 [per ticket] to the Bahamian Red Cross. It'll keep the theme of being on water and beach. It'll be not just music, but all forms of entertainment. The one change we will make is we will not try to do it ourselves. We will make sure there is infrastructure in place to support us."
Billy blamed the weather and a lack of experience for the disaster.
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