Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski ‘sued’ for promoting Fyre Festival

Models reprimanded for involvement with failed music festival

Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski are among a list of celebrities who are being sued for promoting Fyre Festival in 2017.

The notorious Bahamas event, which was dubbed fraudulent for misleading ticket holders, was marketed as a luxury festival complete with plush accommodation, A-list performers and famous guests.

According to court documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Jenner and Ratajkowski were among those paid to promote the event on social media and are being sued for their involvement.

Gregor Messer, the event’s trustee, filed the lawsuit in New York’s US Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday that calls for the recovery of funds paid to talent agencies, performers and vendors in the run up to the event.

The WSJ reports that Jenner was paid $250,000 (£206,561) to promote Fyre Festival in an Instagram post that has since been deleted.

In the post, Jenner called on her followers to “get tix now” for Fyre Festival using her “VIP access” discount code.

Jenner did not disclose she had been paid for the promotional post in the caption. The lawsuit states that 23-year-old model was paid an additional $25,000 (£20,655) a few days after publishing the post.

The Keeping up with the Kardashians star recently addressed her role in promoting the festival in an interview with The New York Times.

“You get reached out to by people to, whether it be to promote or help or whatever, and you never know how these things are going to turn out, sometimes it’s a risk,” she said.

“I definitely do as much research as I can, but sometimes there isn’t much research you can do because it’s a starting brand and you kind of have to have faith in it and hope it will work out the way people say it will. You never really know what’s going to happen.”

The lawsuits claim that Ratajkowski was paid $299,000 (£247,111) via her model agency, DNA Model Management LLC, for promoting Fyre Festival on Instagram. Messer claims that, like Jenner, Ratajkowski did not disclose she had been paid for the post.

Other celebrities named in the court documents include performers who were due to play at Fyre Festival such as Migos, Lil Yachty and Pusha T.

In October, Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud in connection with the festival.

At the time of his sentencing, a US judge described him as “a serial fraudster” who had been dishonest for “most of his life”.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Jenner, Ratajkowski, Migos, Lil Yachty and Pusha T.