Netflix is once again being sued for its Fyre Festival documentary.
This time, the legal action is coming from Austin Mills, a former collegiate basketball player who claims that Netflix stole the Fyre Festival footage he recorded.
In 2015, Mills played basketball for Baylor University, a Christian college in Waco, Texas. It seems that Mills’s lawyer, Scott A. Burroughs, of Doniger Burroughs APC, included this supplemental detail in the lawsuit filing to emphasize the “struggle” of Mills, a college student, against an entertainment giant like Netflix. Moreover, it was noted in the filing that Mills is now a Social Host for the National Basketball Association; this was likely mentioned to illustrate the value of Mills’s platform and reach.
Jerry Media, a social media agency responsible for much of the Fyre Festival disaster, was also named in the lawsuit. Jerry Media also co-produced Fyre Festival: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, with Netflix. Because Jerry Media co-promoted Fyre Festival itself, this partnership allowed Netflix to access and use a number of behind-the-scenes clips.
However, many have questioned whether Jerry Media’s involvement with production would compromise the film’s objectivity.
Mills stated that the documentary’s producers initially asked him for permission to use the footage. When he didn’t consent, the footage was pulled from YouTube and was featured in the film’s final cut. The clips in-question show Fyre attendees reacting to the event’s horrifying conditions and seeking shelter. Timestamps of the allegedly stolen footage were provided in Mills’s filing; the cumulative length of the lifted clips is 15 seconds.
This is the third lawsuit that’s been filed against Netflix and Jerry Media over the footage used in their documentary.
Additionally, Mills’ case appears to be the most comprehensive of these legal actions, based upon the numerous details and nuances cited in the filing.
In July, Netflix reached an out-of-court settlement with Clarissa Cardenas, who filed a copyright infringement lawsuit over an image used in the Fyre Festival documentary. Far from shying away from Fyre Festival, though, Netflix seems to have embraced the failed event’s popularity; a Fyre spoof series, The I-Land, will release on September 12th.
The book deal that the Frye prick will get out of jail will once again prove why the us judicial system is a crock of shit. He’s the new Pablo