Remember LimeWire?
Unless you're a Millennial who sat for hours in a dorm room illegally downloading music in the early 2000s and filling your computer with viruses in the process, probably not.
But if you are of that age cohort, you likely remember LimeWire like a long-lost friend! And now, the file-sharing piracy platform is BACK, baby, and in a way that has the internet scratching its collective head.
What's going on? Well, you know that whole Fyre Festival debacle that left tons of influencers and celebrities stranded on an island and sent its promoter Billy McFarland to prison for fraud?
Well, LimeWire owns that now. And it outbid Ryan Reynolds to do it. Yes, this is real.
So back in July, McFarland put the Fyre Festival brand up for sale on eBay after a previously abortive attempt to revamp the disastrous festival himself.
In a shocking turn of events (read that sarcastically), that didn't work out. And neither did the eBaby auction: McFarland posted at the time about how devastated he was that the infamous brand only fetched $245,000.
Well, turns out the winning bidder was LimeWire, after beating out Ryan Reynolds.
The company announced the purchase in a press release hilariously titled, "LimeWire Acquires Fyre Festival Brand – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" in which it explained:
"Once synonymous with disruption in their own very different ways, LimeWire and Fyre are now poised to begin an entirely new chapter – one grounded in technology, transparency, and a sense of humor."
@leta_bitchknow Please comment what you think the surprise will be…wrong answers only #limewire #fyrefestival #fyrefest #ryanreynolds
In a statement of his own, Reynolds congratulated the company for its acquisition while confessing to being a bit dubious about the festival's future:
“Congrats to LimeWire for their winning bid for Fyre Fest. I look forward to attending their first event, but will be bringing my own palette of water.”
But he needn't worry about water or any other supplies for that matter. LimeWire says it's not resurrecting the festival itself, but rather "saving one of the internet’s most infamous cultural memes from extinction and turning it into something new."
As LimeWire CEO Julian Zehetmayr put it:
"We’re not bringing the festival back - we’re bringing the brand and the meme back to life. This time with real experiences, and without the cheese sandwiches.”
No word on what that means exactly, but on the internet people couldn't help but feel like this is equal parts weird and spot on.
After all, what could possibly make more sense than one of the biggest platforms for fraud of the 2000s buying one of the biggest scams of the 2010s and relaunching it in the lawless sh*tshow of 2025?
The LimeWire x Fyre Fest partnership definitely left a lot of people scratching their heads.
So there you have it. 2025 is just chock full of bizarre surprises, for better or worse.
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