this is "nightline." tonight, firestorm. >> the biggest event in a decade, i'll be there. >> the festival promised influencers and instagram models. >> the biggest festival the world has ever seen. >> how the overhyped scheme ignited a social media backlash, new, dueling documentaries connect the dots and the dollars. >> so many things had to go right to make it this much of a failure. plus, confrontation backlash. the smiling high school student face-to-face

native-american elder. looking behind the clips for a deeper perspective. and super hero worship. out of all the stars, which oscar-nominated film broke historic new ground in 2018? ♪ but first, the "nightline" five. five. five. number

good evening, and thanks so much for joining us, i'm linsey davis. and tonight, the ill-fated fyre festival that sparked a viral social media backlash. how the much-hyped event failed to deliver on its many promises. >> the actual experience exceeds all expectations. >> you're talking beautiful baha bahama islands. beautiful models. beautiful parties. >> reporter: it was built on social media as this spectacle of the decades. mark crawford spent thousands for tickets. >> it was all about capturing the experience of being on an island, being with this group of people. they're featuring jet skis, yachts, beautiful villas. >> reporter: an exclusive and

curated experience on a private island in the bahamas, with luxury accommodations, gourmet food and top musical artists like blink 182. it was called fyre festival. models and influencers like kendall jenner promoting it online, bella hadid posing on white sand beaches. an instagram fapts pntasy come life. >> i heard from a friend of mine. she had the whole promotional video. we saw the package and the video. it was a no-brainer. >> the marketing was incredible. no one disclosed that three wey ads. >> reporter: turns out reality was far from paradise. >> consumers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and invested in a complete fraud and disaster of an event. >> this is the ultimate example of following social media

influencers down a dark path. >> reporter: guests who paid thousands of dollars for the ultimate luxury get away instead were stranded in water-logged tents, eating soggy cheese sandwiches. not a model or musical artist in sight. the failure that is fyre festival now playing out in dueling documentaries. one on netflix, the other on hulu, going behind the scenes with festival co-founder, ja rule and then 25-year-old entrepreneur billy mcfarland. >> i certainly made a lot of mistakes. and there's no question about that. >> reporter: in 2016, mcfarland teamed up with ja rule on a new venture, fyre media, a platform meant to take the middleman out of booking celebrities for events. then the idea for the ultimate marketing promotion. >> we're going to do a festival, y'all. >> fyre festival was supposed to be the new coachella, the new

burning man. >> reporter: the event sold out. but as the days ticked on, things on the island were spinning out of control. mcfarland and his toeam clearly in over their heads. the festival as path is followed. >> it was this constant battle in my mind between is this guy a genius? or is he a madman? because he just would not take no for an answer and would not take advice. >> where do you stand now? >> he's a liar. >> there were so many great stories on the ground and witnessing the insanity around them. >> reporter: chris smith is the film's director. there are a number of people in the documentary raising red flags. >> they are also telling people we're about to close this $20 million investment. there was a lot of information coming from fyre that was making it seem like they were always on

the verge of success. >> reporter: it's april 2017. festival goer mark crawford arrives. the promise of a luxe weekend with a private plane goes up in flames. >> we get off the plane, and i'm still looking for the private plane. >> oh, my god. >> this like yellow school bus pulls up in front of the airport. and i just thought it was like a school bus. and i remember someone at the front of the group said no, no. we're waiting for our shuttle to fyre festival. >> turn around. >> reporter: their accommodations were in a gravel pit next to a sandals resort full of what appear to be disaster relief tents. >> we get there, i decide i'm going to save myself here, and you immediately know what to do here. the survival mechanism kicks in. >> they brought out the luggage in truck containers, like 18 wheeler containers. they said everyone grab your bag, and it was just ay. >> an absolute disaster. became

mentality. >> one woman had a whole pallet of toilet paper. someone had this jiechgiant box pillows she was lugging back to her tent. >> new detail we're learning this morning about that epic fyre festival. >> going viral with #dumpster fyre. >> reporter: the next day, mcfarland responds to the growing outrage. >> we took a big jump here and a big risk. v one has failed. how we're solving this is first all guests have been taken home safely on planes. next, everyone is being refunded for their ticket purchase and everyone is getting a comp ticket to fyre festival 2018. >> reporter: ultimately, mcfarland was charged with defraudi defrauding investors of $27 million. saying i lied to investors about

various aspects of fyre media and my personal finances, elaborating that he greatly exaggerated what it would take to pull off an event that scale. he had falsified financial reports, listing millions of dollars of revenue through fyre media when they really made up to $60,000 leading up to the event. >> he was creating fake balance sheets. create bei creating a fake net worth. >> reporter: while out on bail, mcfarland carried out another fraud. the victoria's secret fashion show, and it led to his rearrest and two more fraud charges. >> it's astonishing that he's out on bail and then begins committing another fraud. you'd think the one thing he'd

want to do while out on bail is to stay out of trouble. >> reporter: ja rule has also come under scrutiny. the music mogul says i, too, was bamboozled, led astray. >> what does going to prison look like for you? >> i don't know. i haven't gotten there yet. >> reporter: mcfarland is now serving a six-year sentence in federal prison. >> what would you have done? >> i'm not going to comment on any ongoing criminal proceedings. >> so you were indicted. >> i cannot comment on ongoing criminal proceedings. >> reporter: hulu paid for this interview. a decision the director of the netflix documentary had faced. >> he wanted to get paid and we didn't feel comfortable with that. >> reporter: but netflix did partner with jerry media. smith defends that choice saying they were independent. >> we felt good about diving

deep into everything that happened, not just with jerry media but everyone involved. jerry media was owed $150,000. they were trying to do their job. you look to the bahamians and the people on the ground, almost everyone sort of lost. >> i had ten persons working directly with me just preparing food all day and all night. 24 hours. i had to literally pay all those people. i am here i went through about $50,000 of savings. >> reporter: mary ruhle has raised $170,000 through a go fund me page. what does that say that you can have a glossy picture and people accept it and buy in. >> there's a reality that took place in many ways. >> reporter: is there a way that it's a pt barnum in getting

people into the tent? >> yeah. he says it in the movie. this is a case study studied in the future, and i think he's right. >> reporter: next, what really hand during last week's protest on the steps of the lincoln memorial. memorial. ♪ in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. oh! no increased risk? ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ and now the anatomy of a viral video. the smiling teen who stared down a native-american elder, where those kids came from and the ideologies they represent. why they protested before the o

here's "nightline" co-anchor, juju chang. >> reporter: it was the stare down that sparked outrage. videos capturing a group of white high school students, many wearing maga hats appearing to surround a native-american elder. >> it hurt me to my core. >> reporter: now that student speaking out to nbc. >> my position is i was into no disrespectful to mr. phillips. >> reporter: kathy griffin tweeting "i want names ", and alissa milano saying red hat is the new white hood. >> when the story came out, everyone pounced on it and had an immediate reaction. the more information we got the more our positions changed.

>> reporter: tonight we widen the lens, taking you inside a longer video showing you a more nuanced picture of what actually lid led up to that standoff. it all started january 18th. as two separate marches converged on the nation's capitol, the right to life and indigenous people's march. by the afternoon, a small group of indigenous people perform a ceremony along the reflection pool, but think are ney are not. >> before you started worshipping totem poles -- >> reporter: a small group can be heard shouting at the indigenous marchers, in this now removed facebook video. roughly half an hour later, the young black israelites turned their attention to the white

students. >> look at these damn crackers. >> reporter: later identified as covington catholic students from kentucky. for more than an hour, the black hebrews continued to hurl insults at both groups. >> bunch of incest babies. this is what make america great looks like. >> reporter: the atmosphere intensifies when a young man rips off his shirt and leads his group in a battle cry often meant to intimidate. meanwhile, nathan phillips, an indigenous activist overhears the commotion and decides to take action. >> came to a point where somebody had to do something. came to me that elder, we got to do something. >> reporter: the omaha elder

steps between the students and the black hebrews, beating his drum and singing a traditional song. >> it's a song of unity, a song of strength and courage. >> reporter: then nate phillips locks eyes with nick sandmann, a junior at covington, leading to that epic staredown. sandmann now speaking to nbc. >> do you see your own fault in any way? >> as far as standing there, i had every right to do so. i don't, my position is that i was not disrespectful to mr. phillips. i respect him. >> reporter: but phillips saw it differently. >> he wanted to de-escalate it, he should have asked his people, let's exit this situation. >> reporter: as fiphillips' son come a close, some people started throwing tomahawk chops

and chanting. >> when we listen to i me fake indian chant that people sing before football games. >> let's make america great. >> reporter: and as phillips begins to leave, a young man offers a parting remark after one of the indigenous people called america stolen land. >> you stole it from the aboriginals. land gets stolen. that's how it works. >> reporter: the day after the incident, covington school released a statement condemning the actions of its students, saying in part, we extend our deepest apologies to mr. phillips. covington adding that it intends to launch a third party investigation this week. today the school deciding to close due to threats of violence and protests. >> where were their supervisors? where were the teachers? why did they allow this to build up over two or three hours? >> reporter: one chaperone told

usa today ther avon tmp the fray have captivate the world. serity we are feeling because of the political discourse, and that unsafetyrea very quickly to any symbol or sign of disrespect or discrimination or anything else. >> reporter: and a sobering reminder of the internet's ability to oversimplify complicated events. >> what we need to do is be more skeptical, be more caution and engage in critical thinking. >> if there's a lesson everybody can learn from this incident is to take a pause. the media can get the full story before rushing to judgment. look at more data, look at more evidence, look at more video. >> reporter: nathan phillips believes the incident can be used as an opportunity. >> opportunity to heal a nation.

opportunity to bring people together with the purpose of peace and a better future for all our children. >> our thanks to juju. next, the oscars honoring both the extraordinary and the shallow. ♪ w. ♪ abc news "nightline," spo sponsored by mercedes benz. mercedes benz. or to carry on a legacy? its show of strength... or its sign of intelligence? in crossing harsh terrain... or breaking new ground? this is the mercedes-benz suv family. greatness comes in many forms. lease the glc 300 79 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. tremfya® is for adults with remoderate.

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like never before store.ors ♪ ♪ all the stars in motion ♪ all the stars in motion ♪ all the stars in motion ♪ ♪ going to let me know >> that's "all the stars" from "black panther", grabbing an oscar nomination for best song. it's also the first super hero movie nominated for best picture. lady gaga breaking new ground as the first person in the same year to be nominated for lead acting and an original song.

"shallow" in "a star is b ♪ in the shallow shadow ♪ we're far from the shallow now ♪ >> the academy awards are right here on abc february 24th. and right now on the small screen, full episodes of "nightline" are streaming on hulu all the time. thanks so much for watching, america. goodnight. goodnight.