The celebrity fraudster who connects Trump with rappers

In 2018, Donald Trump's justice department sentenced him to six years in federal prison for fraud as the organizer of the disastrous Fyre Festival. Now, media outlets including Vulture and the Rolling Stone are reporting, that Trump and McFarland are collaborating to get the former president closer to rappers.

On June 15, McFarland posted an image of himself and Trump at what he said was the former president’s birthday party. "Pres' birthday featuring your new cabinet," he wrote... joking, we think?

Image: pyrtbilly/Instagram

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As Rolling Stone reports, McFarland has been acting as something of a liaison between Trump and rappers, in a bid to make him more popular among Black voters.

Image: pyrtbilly / Instagram

McFarland had even told media personality Angela Yee that he helped link Brooklyn rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow to Trump. Indeed, they appeared at a May campaign rally in The Bronx. However, as McFarland is known to exaggerate, that fact remains unconfirmed.

Sources close to the Detroit rapper Icewear Vezzo told Rolling Stone that McFarland had been in touch to connect the two ahead of Trump’s recent visit to Detroit. The two did meet, and the rapper expressed that he may support Trump. "My life was different when Trump was in office. My family's life was different, the economy was different, and I actually care about the border, you know?" he told Fox News in June 2024.

Rolling Stone reports that McFarland has no formal role within the Trump campaign, according to multiple sources in Trump’s orbit. However, they did say that McFarland is a contact that Team Trump has used to connect with certain celebrities and musical artists.

Several rappers have supported Trump. Last week, Waka Flocka told all the Joe Biden supporters to leave his concert. XXL magazine also reported that rappers Sexy Red, Chief Keef, Benny The Butcher, Kodak Black (pictured), OhGeesy, and Azealia Banks seem poised to vote for the president in 2024. While he was president, he pardoned high-profile rappers Kodak Black, Lil Wayne, and Death Row Records co-founder Michael 'Harry-O' Harris.

Their relationship goes all the way back to 'The Apprentice' in 2007 and has had its ups and downs. In 2017, Snoop slammed Trump in a song, and in 2020, he said he “never voted” but was going to cast his ballot against Trump. However, in 2024, he told The Sunday Times, "Donald Trump? He ain't done nothing wrong to me… He has done only great things for me. He pardoned Michael Harris... I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump."

After the reports emerged, DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd told TMZ: "There is nothing more on brand for a convicted felon like Donald Trump than recruiting another convicted felon to join his campaign just in time for the Republican National Convention."

Floyd continued with his criticism, saying that Trump’s campaign is “shaping up to be just as much of a dumpster fire as Fyre Fest."

The Fyre Festival was a luxury music festival organized by McFarland and Ja Rule. It was widely promoted by social media influencers and attracted significant investors. However, those who paid thousands of dollars to attend were given bad tents, a few sandwiches, and the event was canceled while they were at the site in the Bahamas. It has been the subject of two documentaries, at least eight lawsuits, and McFarland served four years behind bars.

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