How Ozy Fest Was About To Become The Next Fyre Festival — Until A Heat Wave (And Insurance Claim) Bailed Them Out

How Ozy Fest Was About To Become The Next Fyre Festival — Until A Heat Wave (And Insurance Claim) Bailed Them Out

One day before the July 2019 kickoff to "Ozy Fest," a strange amalgam of speeches, panels and entertainment scheduled to be held on arguably the biggest stage in America, Central Park's Great Lawn, Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson was all smiles: "I've heard people describe it as TED meets Coachella," Watson told the audience on CNBC's Squawk Box, as he sat across from one his board members, hedge fund billionaire Marc Lasry, and baseball superstar turned Shark Tank mogul Alex Rodriguez, who had been positioned as co-host. More than 100, 000 people had already been billed to attend — Watson boasted that a brunch event alone with chef Marcus Samuelsson would draw 10, 000 people — putting it into the rarified air of South-by-Southwest and Art Basel, except that rather than just tech, music or art, Ozy Fest would feature, well, a bit of everything. Or, in reality, nothing. Hours later, the event had been cancelled, with a sudden heat wave as the ostensible culprit. That masked something far more fundamental. "Things were not ready in every aspect," says one employee involved with the festival. "It was going to be Fyre Fest." For all the allegations leveled against Ozy Media