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He did so at the request of his protege, Billy McFarland. For years, King had served as the 20-something鈥檚 mentor, helping the would-be entrepreneur launch a credit card that promised exclusive benefits for wealthy New Yorkers. But when King arrived on the island, things were far worse than he鈥檇 anticipated. McFarland told him that four 18-wheeler trucks filled with Evian water were held up in customs, and the only way to get them out was to pony up $175,000 in cash 鈥� money he didn鈥檛 have.

So, King said, McFarland asked him 鈥� 鈥渙ur wonderful gay leader鈥� 鈥� to perform oral sex on the customs official to 鈥渟ave this festival.鈥�

King was momentarily baffled but quickly found himself driving home, taking a shower and gurgling some mouthwash, fully prepared 鈥渢o take one for the team.鈥�

No, he never went through with it, but that鈥檚 how desperate things were behind-the-scenes in the weeks leading up to Fyre Fest, the April 2017 music festival that will go down in the history books as the epitome of an epic fail. The event captivated thousands from afar as the mess unfurled in real time on Twitter 鈥� all the music acts pulled out, 鈥渓uxe accommodations鈥� were actually FEMA disaster tents, guests got locked in an airport 鈥� and generated enough interest that both Netflix and Hulu greenlit documentaries about it.

The Netflix project, Fyre, had long been slated for a streaming and limited theatrical release on Friday 鈥� but on Monday, Hulu ignited the streaming wars by dropping its own film, Fyre Fraud, without warning.

The Hulu project instantly became a trending topic, and celebrities like Chrissy Teigen began live-tweeting it: 鈥淚 love this fyre movie,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淥h man there鈥檚 just so much that went wrong, it鈥檚 fascinating.鈥�

The news came as a surprise to Chris Smith, the director of Fyre and a veteran documentary director (American Movie, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond). He鈥檇 known the Hulu project existed 鈥� it was announced as a planned docuseries in 2017 鈥� but wasn鈥檛 aware it was completed.

Hulu wouldn鈥檛 comment on its release strategy, but Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason 鈥� the husband-and-wife directorial team behind Fyre Fraud鈥� 鈥� said the company felt that 鈥渋f viewers start here first, it would be a powerful way to get things started.鈥�

On Monday night, Furst 鈥� who has worked on television docuseries about Trayvon Martin and Kalief Browder 鈥� said he was elated with the response the film had gotten on Twitter.

鈥淲ho wouldn鈥檛 want to have a day on which your film is trending on Twitter and celebrities are tweeting about it?鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing that everyone dropped everything they were doing, including Chrissy Teigen, to watch, and I think it shows the appetite for this content. Which is why we have a collegial attitude with the Netflix team. Streaming wars 鈥� that鈥檚 not us.鈥�

Nonetheless, a flame war has commenced between the two documentary camps. Hulu has been touting the fact that its film features an exclusive interview with McFarland 鈥� the creator of the fest, who is currently serving six years in prison for scamming festivalgoers and contractors out of millions. But Smith is quick to point out that he could have had McFarland in his doc too 鈥� for a price.

鈥淏illy told us he was getting an offer for $250,000 and didn鈥檛 want to work with them, so he鈥檇 work with us if we paid him $125,000,鈥� the filmmaker recalled. 鈥淚t was hard, because we wanted the interview, but ethically, we just feel like it wasn鈥檛 right for him to benefit when other people had been hurt by his actions.鈥�

Furst and Nason acknowledged that they did pay McFarland to license footage and indemnify the production from his potential claims of defamation. They denied that the amount was $250,000 but would not say how much McFarland was paid.

鈥淚 find it a little curious that we鈥檙e being asked if we have an ethical problem when the Netflix project was produced by Jerry Media, one of the companies that ran social media for Fyre and deleted negative comments on the festival鈥檚 Instagram page,鈥� Furst said.

In a statement, the 鈥淔yre鈥� filmmakers said they joined forces with Jerry Media because they wanted access to the company鈥檚 wealth of film footage, noting that 鈥渁t no time did they, or any others we worked with, request favourable coverage in our film, which would be against our ethics.鈥�

Beyond the tit-for-tat, the two documentaries do employ relatively different artistic strategies in tackling the debacle that was Fyre Fest. The Netflix project trains its lens on the background players 鈥� like King and other event co-ordinators, producers, designers and caterers 鈥� who were hired to pull off a massive music festival in six months. While the Hulu film follows the same basic timeline, it goes into less on-the-ground detail, instead focusing on bigger-picture commentary about what the implosion of the festival says about millennial culture.

The festival infamously became a viral sensation after it launched with a glamorous promotional video that featured models Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski frolicking on the clear blue shores of a remote, private island 鈥渙nce owned by Pablo Escobar,鈥� popping bottles of Champagne on yachts and wearing barely there bikinis. The January 2017 video was shared by dozens of social media influencers, including Kendall Jenner, and inspired a handful of FOMO-crazed youths to shell out thousands for the promise of private jet rides, a million-dollar treasure hunt on the beach and alcohol-stocked seaside villas.

鈥淛ulia and I am older millennials who experienced 9/11 and saw the Bush and Obama and Trump presidencies,鈥� said Furst. 鈥淎s millennials, this story resonated for us, but we were adults when it happened, so our perspective was obviously that this was a funny story that had a lot of amazing details that are laugh-out-loud hilarious. It was also a cautionary tale about the apathy out there that social media has instilled in a lot of people.鈥�

Smith, meanwhile, said he was more interested in the 鈥渉uman story,鈥� focusing on the individuals whose livelihoods have been stripped from them as a result of working on Fyre Fest.

鈥淚 think the thing that surprised me most is how much I liked and cared for the people that I met that got wrapped up in this,鈥� he said. 鈥淕oing into it, I was worried that it was going to be a movie about bad people doing bad things. And in the end, I found quite the opposite. I found a lot of really compassionate, hard-working, thoughtful individuals that were doing their best to do try to fulfil what they were hired to do.鈥�

While McFarland is doing time for his crimes 鈥� and has been ordered to pay back over $27 million to his investors 鈥� both films call into question just how culpable his collaborators were in moving forward with an event they knew was laden with problems. King, who said he was viewed as the 鈥淏illy whisperer,鈥� acknowledged he feels 鈥減ersonally responsible鈥� for convincing employees to stay who would have otherwise walked away.

鈥淚 was there assuring everybody that this festival would happen when they wanted to pull the plug,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 kept saying, 鈥楧on鈥檛 worry. I have never been part of a project that didn鈥檛 happen.鈥� And I honestly thought it would happen. Woodstock was the most famous, successful festival in history and there were 1,000 cars stuck on the highway, people dying of overdoses, mudslides 鈥� but social media didn鈥檛 exist.鈥�

King said he participated in the 鈥淔yre鈥� doc because he was eager to dissuade the notion that it was put on by a bunch of scammers. In an interview, he pointed out that several of the music acts 鈥渨ere a 10-minute plane away鈥� and said the cruise ship set to host 400 of the guests would have alleviated housing concerns 鈥� but it couldn鈥檛 dock due to bad weather.

鈥淚f they hadn鈥檛 taken pictures of those damn cheese sandwiches,鈥� he lamented, referring to an image of a pathetic-looking piece of bread with sliced cheese that circulated on the internet. 鈥淚 saw two drunk kids and told them, 鈥榊ou need to eat something,鈥� so I got them those. And the next thing I know, there are 300 kids in line to get a cheese sandwich, and they鈥檙e all taking pictures of it. No one took pictures of the jumbo shrimp or mahi-mahi being marinated for dinner later.鈥�

One of the guests who was tweeting was Seth Crossno, a festivalgoer featured in both Fyre and Fyre Fraud. After the event ended, Crossno and his friend 鈥� who had each paid $13,000 to go to the festival 鈥� sued McFarland for damages and were awarded $5 million by a North Carolina judge last June.

鈥淚 laugh about it now but it really was a dangerous situation,鈥� Crossno said of the festival. 鈥淲e were in another country without proper medical supplies. Apparently Billy has a plan to get us the $5 million, but I don鈥檛 know if we will get it.鈥�

Randall Jackson, McFarland鈥檚 defence attorney, did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Crossno spoke more positively of his experience with the Netflix project, noting that 鈥淐hris seemed like a very natural director.鈥�

鈥淭he Hulu doc,鈥� he said, 鈥渇elt like their take is that influencers and social media is really to blame for the whole thing.

鈥淎nd while they do interview Billy, it鈥檚 basically like they didn鈥檛 even have him, because he barely answers anything,鈥� he continued. 鈥淲hat good is an interview if he doesn鈥檛 answer any questions?鈥�

The directors of Fyre Fraud disagreed with that assessment, with Furst arguing that they 鈥渓iterally excoriate (McFarland) for 90 minutes and don鈥檛 let him get away with anything.鈥�

鈥淲e went in knowing we were going to be fed a lot of lies and a lot of trickery, but you have to be able to sit and comport yourself with people who have done heinous things in a way that allows them to open up,鈥� said Nason.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to let someone get away with word salad,鈥� added Furst. 鈥淏ut it would be very hard to tell a story like this without getting the perspective of the person who organized it. There were a lot of different portrayals of him, and it felt like from square one, we wanted to hear from the guy who was under fire.鈥�

Crossno, for one, said he feels certain McFarland will stage a comeback after he serves his time. 鈥淭his is gonna be another Wolf of Wall Street,鈥� he surmised.

As both documentaries show, the Fyre Fest creator launched another alleged ticket-selling scam while he was out on bail 鈥� and now reportedly owes even more money to those he sold allegedly bogus tickets to for events like the Met Gala and Coachella.

But even those closest to McFarland still have conflicting feelings about him. Up until the convict reported to prison last fall, his old mentor, King, was still in communication with him. They had a sit-down where King expected McFarland to apologize and say he wanted to do right by those he鈥檇 harmed 鈥� but there was no such admission.

And yet, to the question of whether he鈥檇 cut ties with McFarland, King said with a sigh: 鈥淣o, I鈥檓 not done with him.鈥�

鈥淚 know 鈥� I鈥檓 Uncle Whackjob,鈥� he continued. 鈥淏ut I grew up in New Jersey, he grew up in New Jersey. We come from a preppy background. Half my friends have sons his age. I didn鈥檛 have somebody to mentor me at that age. He鈥檚 not a horrible guy. He has hurt a lot of people. Will I probably go visit him someday? Yeah, I will probably. And maybe that鈥檚 the closure I need.鈥�