Fyre Festival 2 Returns, The Menendez Brothers' Case Resurfaces & A Wombat Unites Aussies

 Hello, homies, and welcome back to another episode of Easily Entertained with Maddy McClain. I'm your host, your dutiful pop culture sherpa, here to guide you through the latest in pop culture, from entertainment news and Hollywood to internet combos and the latest findings from my doom-scrolling adventures, so you don't have to do it.

Welcome back, it has been yet another  wack ass week. I mean, anytime you look at your phone, you're simply bombarded without consent by many news outlets, particularly. Um, also, depending on your situation, probably bombarded by the people in your life, but that's why you are here. Listening to me, your dearest Sharpa, anytime I get a notification, whether it is good, bad, doesn't require any sort of emotion to be attached with it, whatever it is.

I still get a little bit stressed out because it feels like another item I must at least review and take care of, if needed. So, safe to say, it's not that hard to stress me out. But we're doing better these days. We're trying something new, where we're giving less of a, 

These days, okay? Anyways, South by Southwest is now over. But I had, you know what? I had myself a time. I got to meet Well, really, take a selfie with Anderson Paak. Turns out, I've always wanted to say Anderson POCK, just with the double A's. I don't know, for me, I always wanted to give it a little bit more emphasis when there's two of them, right?

A POCK. After I said the sentence, I'm a big Anderson Paak fan to learn that that's not really how you pronounce it. Um, I think he does have some Thai roots, so technically I'm in the right, but um, no, I'm not. I've been saying his last name wrong this entire time. But that still does not take away from the sheer excitement I felt.

It was a great time. I went with one of my very best friends and her fiance and we didn't really realize what we were walking into. So that was pretty sick. It's usually when you're not trying that hard that shit works out the best and I think that's a lesson to be learned. 

I'm not sure anniversary is the right word to use here, but given it has been five years since the onset of coronavirus and it rudely announced its way into our lives, there were so many articles about the effects of the pandemic since, and there was actually a very interesting article from the New York Times.

About some of the, our biggest learnings five years down the road from the onset of COVID. The first one, when sports teams started playing in empty stadiums, researchers could more rigorously study why players seemed to do better at home. A variety of studies found that yes, the fans made a difference.

Home teams played worse without them around. They were less likely to win at home and had poorer performances and the effect was smaller for teams that had frequently played in front of smaller crowds before the pandemic.  But there was also evidence that it wasn't just about the fans. When the NBA restarted play, the top 22 teams isolated in Orlando, Florida, allowing researchers to study the effects of jet lag, rebounding, shooting accuracy, and wins were all higher among players who didn't have to travel across time zones.

It's nothing shocking, but we've never been given the opportunity to fully study that in a, in a more And, uh, I'm not gonna go into the details about what we did, but, uh, I think we did it in like a more controlled way. There were so many weird things that we did that we just took to be normal and just sort of like, uh, okay.

Cause  I mean, obviously nobody knew what the fuck we were doing. Also remember the very short lived house party app that everybody used for like five minutes, the beginning, where it was like one giant mass FaceTime. But then if you didn't set your little FaceTime, Zoom, house party Zoom, to private, then anybody of your friends could just pop in.

Or not friends too, I think. Like a chat roulette. Could just pop in at any moments notice. And just, boom! Join your house party. Does anybody? That's kind of crazy.  I mean, imagine, you're talking to shit, and then Sandra pops in, and she's face to face with you and,  uh,  Jill.  In case you forgot, cause I forgot, we were talking about some of the things that we have learned now that it's been five years.

Since the onset of COVID the anniversary of COVID the onset makes it sound like we're all ill with it right now, but starting in March, 2020, the number of women showing up at emergency rooms with injuries, they said were from wearing high heels. Like fractures or sprains declined sharply.  This one, uh, in particular, hits home.

In 2020, there were 6, 300 hospital visits for high heel injuries, down from 16, 000 during each of the four years prior, according to data analyzed by Philip Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland.  Now he's looking into whether injuries have increased since people have begun socializing and working in offices again or whether the pandemic has hastened, hasn't, hastened, has hastened, hasn't,  whatever, or whether the pandemic has  maintained the trend towards flats and sneakers. 

Well folks, I will admit to you and to all those around me that I am indeed a part of this statistic. In my defense, we went from party bus, to party barge,  back to party bus,  to This part was my own addition. A house party with, with some friends, um, then ended up in a Doc in the Box ER visit really quickly.

So,  it was in fact a marathon, not a sprint, but  I should have told that to my ankle and the worst part of this whole thing, well, I haven't even told you the whole thing. So let me back up and tell you the thing. I broke my ankle real bad. It was my left ankle in 2021 and I was at one of my very best friends engagement parties.

nonetheless, but 

Yeah, so had to I had to speak for this one later on years down the line but  it was one of my very best friends engagement parties and I had on these wedges that I have walked around in Plenty of times I actually was a ballet dancer with this friend who was engaged. I did point, so I'm no rookie when it comes to heels.

You know, as party buses do, they really encourage the  The inner college gal in me. It just sparks something where I'm like, Oh, it's time to drink a lot. And it's time to do that quickly. So, that's what I did. And had a grand, grand old time. Everyone was going back home. And that's when I should have called it.

Called it an evening.  No, that's not what I did, because I am a trooper, and if there's anything I know what to do, it is how to commit to a good time. So I committed in the name of my bestie, who just got engaged, and I was simply celebrating, okay? And decided to join some of my friends to go to a house party after we got back.

So I did that. All of my appendages were intact at that moment. Time to go home. Called the Uber.  And I'm making my way outside, just basically down the side of a curb, to get to the Uber. And as soon as one of my ankles made it down to the ground, the other kind of fell and I completely ate shit. And my ankle went just the completely wrong way, and I mean, I broke it.

I didn't even really, I thought, no, there's no way, just sprained it, so. Before my boyfriend at the time could get to me, I tried to stand up on my own and  quickly learned that that was not physically possible. Well, anyways, we're on to the other interesting tidbit that we've learned since the pandemic five years ago, is that when humans were less active,  well, the rest of nature healed and did a whole lot better without us.

So, according to this article, what scientists call the Anthropos, The times in which humans were less active and were quarantined, animals began breeding more and traveling farther. Dolphins whistled longer, birds changed their songs, sea turtles laid more eggs. But the Anthropos also revealed the ways in which animals have adapted to people, and humans disappearance disturbed delicate balances.

In some places, predators or invasive species arrived. Urban wildlife that had become accustomed to coexisting with humans, like crows or raccoons, retreated. It revealed the ways in which humans both threaten and protect the natural world, scientists said. And then you have your not so surprising, quote, discoveries, like big businesses kept making money without forcing employees to work in an office eight plus hours a day.

Imagine that. And remote learning actually took a toll on students education and ultimately their test scores.  But also showed, as in previous studies at the same time, that high schools that start later in the day are associated with improved concentration, behavior, attendance, learning, and mental health. 

Something we also learned that's not all that surprising is that women took on more in the household and got prescribed more anxiety meds and antidepressants. Perhaps slid us right back into that good old gender workplace gap. If you're interested in hearing about any more of these post pandemic discoveries, you can check out the New York Times article that I am reading from, which is listed in the show notes, among other links, like the ability to send us a text.

So I would absolutely love to hear from each and every one of you. Go ahead, send us a text. If you click that link, you'll be prompted to type whatever the hell you want into that text box and we will receive it directly.  There was a particular American influencer from the lovely state of Montana. on Instagram that caused the entire country of Australia during a divisive election, mind you, to bond together over their collective distaste, disgust.

So, this American influencer, she spots a mom and baby wombat on the side of the road and films, proceeds to film her. Running over to grab the little adorable baby wombat from the mother as it's squealing for its mom and Runs away with the baby. Films holding it. She's like, oh my gosh, the mom's pissed.

You see the mom wombat  come, come Zoom in as I guess as a as a wombat does, right? We all know that as the wombat zooms in and it was very sad. We do see that the, the influencer puts the baby back down. They get in their car and they drive away. Look, we don't need any more, any more silliness to be brought our way.

We don't need to be demonstrating any more silly behavior Americans when we're abroad. All right. We really do not help ourselves out there abroad, especially in these days. I mean,  yeah, so I'm imagining, I read this article, it's funnier when you imagine the prime minister's response in an Australian accent. 

He suggested that she try the same with a crocodile and see how that goes. To take a baby wombat from its mother. And clearly, causing distress from the mother is just an outrage, Mr. Albanese said. The indignation was bipartisan. Asked about the video by a reporter, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, called it, quote, a cruel act.

So everybody could agree on that. The Wombat Protection Society of Australia denounced the video. And, uh, yeah, that woman, you best believe she put all her socials on private after that.  In the same tune of Americans making absolute jabronis of themselves on the global stage, please welcome Billy McFarland. 

Yay! Three weeks ago Billy McFarland and Fire Fest made the most official of official announcements on Instagram Announcing the second or rather I don't even know if we can call it the second when the first was a complete and utter failure, but They announced FireFest 2 and all of the information that they could provide for us, like real actual detailed information, is they do have a date.

It's planned for this May 30th through June 2nd in Isla Mujeres. However, uh, the government itself of Isla Mujeres has released an official statement Saying, we have no knowledge of this event nor contact with any person or company about it. Edgar Gasca from the Tourism Mujeres told The Guardian. Quote, for us, this is an event that does not exist. 

Now, Fyre Festival was the scam of a fest put on by Billy McFarland, who ended up getting convicted on two counts of wire fraud for it. And spent four years in jail and still has 27 million dollars to repay. However, clearly he's learned absolute diddly shit because he is coming back with a vengeance, with Firefest 2.

He says, however though, don't get it twisted, it's definitely not about him. It's about getting it right, this go around, or righting the wrongs of the past. A quick refresher of what exactly happened, well, Billy McFarland along with Ja Rule and a host of other advertised major celebrities and artists announced this super bougie fest that was for pretty much the rich and famous including yachts and helicopters and all of this crazy stuff.

People ate it up and sure enough bought the tickets and when they showed up to the festival, it was nothing like that. Instead, it was a natural disaster trauma site with hundreds of FEMA tents and  probably expired nasty ass white bread and a slice of American cheese. And that was the luxury experience that they came to the island with in Exuma in the Bahamas.

All of that was a complete disaster turned into an actual natural disaster. Well, I guess unnatural disaster here and everybody was pissed off and lost a shitload of money. No big names showed up. There's two documentaries about it. So, um, both of them are good. And I did watch both of them like pretty much back to back.

So you can't go wrong in choosing one is on Hulu and one is on Netflix. After taking to Instagram to announce Fyre Fest's unrequested return, Billy McFarlane went on the Today Show and said, 'Fyre 2 is real. My dream is finally becoming a reality. He also said that, quote, 'Artists, athletes, and other performers are on board and scheduled for Fyre 2.

Though no lineup has been released on its website or on social media. Quote, my partners and I have remained in communication with local and state governments to ensure full compliance and a successful event that benefits the local economy, shares the beauty of the Mexican Caribbean with the world, and helps make right for all the wrongs, he said.

According to a post shared by festival organizers, Fyre Festival 2 is produced by Lost Nights, a premier live event producer with nearly 20 years of experience. So I took it upon myself to do a little digging, and their website is real, although let it be known that it is with a mx url. So I don't know, maybe this is avoiding any sort of  legal loopholes that he may be working through in the U.

S., given he does still owe like a shitload of money. But don't worry, one of my favorite details is that part of the money made from the cost of tickets, um, 500, 000 of it to be exact, We'll go to his restitution. So, we  Now I have to say, the website is pretty sick, so that adds this odd layer of scammy legitimacy to it.

But anyone can make a good website, so Okay, don't worry, I have found the details of the tickets, because I know you all are itching to pull out your credit cards. The first level we have Ignite for the low price of 1, 400, which does include access to the festival grounds on Isla Mujeres and the water stage.

Apparently there's a water stage. Um, it does not include accommodation though. But don't worry, they have a link to Google flights to look up how to buy a flight to Cancun. So they're very, very helpful. Fuego for five grand, still no accommodation or flights included in that. Uh, all I can see is you're just, you're more VIP, you're more fuego.

Then we have the Phoenix, which is artist access, I suppose, for the low price of 25, 000. So I suppose here, still, oh, oh, accommodation is included for 25, 000. So don't worry. That's a real steal. Um, says accommodations coming soon in a circular pattern, so that seems legit. But don't worry, if you really want to show how big your old ding dong is, you can get the Prometheus package, okay, for, drumroll please, 1.

1 million, 1. 1 million.  You know what? Honestly, it's not a bad business move for Billy McFarland. He has 27 million in restitution to pay. Right. Um, for everyone who decides to buy a ticket,  500 grand of that will go towards said restitution, but he only really needs like. Twenty, give or take, twenty seven, okay, that would be the math, it's real easy math.

It would take twenty seven jabronis who are willing to somehow throw away 1. 1 million dollars, they exist, and boom, restitution is paid. And, so the website provides, uh, coordinates, how unique of them, I plopped those coordinates into Google Maps, and it drops you. Directly in the middle of the ocean in between Cancun and Isla Mujeres.

So,  uh, that seems legit. To add to the legitimacy of all of this, quote, the organizers didn't even bother to approach the authorities. It's a very strange because any manager knows that if you're going to hold an event, let alone a massive event, you need municipal authorization. I think they thought they would just announce it and see if it got traction, then ask for the permits halfway down the path.

It's a bit of a naive way to think, and I will say so. They reached out to, there were some accommodations listed on the website. There aren't any more as of Wednesday, March 19th. Um, one being Impression Isla Mujeres, one of the luxury hotels. And when reached out by the Guardian, they responded, the hotel responded by saying they had not received, quote, any approach or inquiry with regards to the event and that they were investigating it.

So everyone's like, whoop, whoop, not me, not me, not me. However, in order to soothe our confused souls, don't worry, Billy McFarland himself hopped onto Instagram in a very trustworthy, legitimate, he's literally has his AirPods in and is walking alongside the beach and talking to the camera.  Um, and basically tells us, don't worry guys, it's still happening, Firefest 2 is real.

However, when you ask Isamu Hades themselves, they say that the festival is not going to happen. So, um,  jury's out on that. Will there be a second jury after he tries to put this on? Stay tuned, you know I'll keep you updated on all of this shit. 

A quick trigger warning for this next segment, we are going to be talking about the Menendez case, which is a true crime case that involves things like sexual abuse and murder and violence. So I advise you if you are not in the mindset to listen to such a thing to skip forward and I'll catch you in the next episode. 

You may have seen the names Lyle and Eric Menendez across your screens or in the TV lately, as their case has resurfaced yet again. Eric and Lyle Menendez, two brothers, were convicted in 1996  for the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. That took place in 1989. It resurfaced in public discourse when Netflix released a dramatization series.

The latest of Ryan Murphy's anthologies called Monsters The Erick and Lyle Menendez Story. This is the second in the series. The first one was based on none other than Ted Bundy. Ryan Murphy's latest coverage of Lyle, Erick and Menendez story was a huge hit. So this was released in September of 2024 around then on Netflix and around the same time, per chance, there was also more of a true crime, real documentary that was released regarding the Menendez murders.

The case is back in the news because the men, both Eric and Lyle after 35 years spent in prison in which they were separated by the way, they've now been able to come together and work on their. Their recent in sink case, they have constantly filed motions and appeals with both the California and federal state courts to fight these charges as they've maintained that it was out of self defense and that they were not allowed to bring in some very crucial details regarding the sexual abuse.

Not only that, but the way that. We looked at sexual abuse and sexual trauma. Nobody talked about that, especially when it came to men. So I think that their argument here, too, is if you were to re look at this case today, in today's light, in this circumstance, that I think we would have looked at it very differently.

That, and they came across a piece of evidence that they did not have at the time, allegedly, to be exact, the letter that Eric wrote to his cousin Andy. He's quoted as saying, It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now. He's so overweight that I can't stand to see him. I never know when it's going to happen, and it's driving me crazy.

Every night, I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before, but I'm afraid. You just don't know Dad like I do. He's crazy. He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle. Am I a serious wimpus? I don't know. I'll make, I'll make it through this.

I can handle it, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it.  So allegedly Jose Menendez's younger sister found the letter and showed it to a journalist. 6 years ago. And finally, this letter was showed to the appeals lawyer. However, it was not brought up or shown during either of the brothers trials that ultimately landed them in jail. 

So along with this and Roy Rossello's allegations in that docu series called Menendez and Menudo boys betrayed. In case you do want to watch that. I  brought this all up to the California Court of Appeals as well as the federal level. After some time, we finally heard from the newly elected L. A. County District Attorney, Nathan Hockman, who was reviewing the Menendez brothers re sentencing case.

His predecessor, so the former L. A. District Attorney, George Gascon, had recommended a re sentencing for the brothers back in October, around the time of both the dramatization and the documentary that came out, as people were kind of, the public was calling for. Um, another look at this case, given the change in kind of public sentiment and understanding of sexual abuse.

George Gascon said, after a very careful review of all the arguments that were made for people on both sides of this equation, I came to a place where I believe that under the law, resentencing is appropriate, and I'm going to recommend that to our court tomorrow, Gascon had said at the time.  They have been in prison 35 years.

I believe they have paid their debt to society and the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a parole board.  So  the thing is that DA made this case, but then what did not continue to hold his place in office. So now we have our newly elected L. A. County D. A. Nathan Augman, who just now on March 10th, has seemed to take a completely counter stance to that and said they still pose quote an unreasonable risk of danger to the community because they haven't fully accepted responsibility for killing their parents.

He pointed to quote deliberate and meditative actions They took immediately following the crime in which they look to cover it up The brothers basically get engaged in not just the ultimate lie of self defense But a series of lies around it Hockman said he continued on by saying The interest of justice justifies his withdrawal of support for releasing the brothers.

He stressed their original position during the trial in which they were convicted that they didn't kill their parents. The first iteration of their defense was that it wasn't them, he said. They then persisted in this lie and kept that lie going for months and months and months. Had Eric not confessed to his therapist months later and had that confession not been taped and turned over to the police, they wouldn't have been, they would have maintained it wasn't them. 

He adds on by saying there was large mountainous evidence that they continued not only to A, plot their parents murder before it went down, but also B, then cover it up by, you know, using a fake ID to purchase their weapons, having an alibi, like going to see Tim Burton's Batman. Which, I don't know, for some reason feels ironic.

Um, and to set up the murder itself to look like a gang killing. They, they got rid of the, the gun casings, all of this kinds of thing. And ultimately, I think they're making a stance of Regardless if it's the latest, the center of the latest true crime documentary, we're not going to completely just manipulate justice to how the public wants to see it.

And I totally get that stance. I think true crime  as an entertainment topic is again, very tricky. And I think That people are doing their best to A, respect the people, the real people that are involved and B, make sure that they're walking an ethical line. Um, interestingly,  the Menendez's family, majority of them, there are some that still maintain that they should stay in prison, but a large portion of them support the brothers and their release, given this new understanding and the new evidence that has allegedly been brought to light. 

LA DA. That's a funny thing to say. Los Angeles DA. That sounds better. Los Angeles DA Hockman also argued the fact that regardless of this new evidence of the sexual abuse, and he is quoted as saying it is abhorrent and this does not take away from that  allegation, that being said, It would not  given this letter was written six or nine, however many odd months before and this evidence was brought to light, they would still have to prove that it affected Lyle and Eric Menendez in that very moment in which they committed the murders and otherwise they would have to prove it.

And or should have made that argument from the get go and that it's, it doesn't support their self defense argument. So, and he's saying it's basically two separate things, but that's not completely hope is not all lost for the Menendez brothers. If you were hoping for their justice, the justice for Eric and Lyle coalition founded by relatives of the brothers responded to Hawkman's comments by saying abuse does not exist in a vacuum to say it played no role in Eric and Lyle's action.

is to ignore decades of psychological research and basic human understanding. But as it stands now, it basically sits in Governor Gavin Newsom's hands. Newsom has said that he is continuing to look into everything, 50, 000 pages of transcripts and evidence, as well as taking into account the DA's opinions.

Um, in order to determine if he will move this case forward to be considered for clemency. Lyle and Eric wouldn't be re sentenced down to something like manslaughter. It would still be first degree murder. However, it would then come with a possibility for parole. And given Eric and Lyle's ages at the time of the murders, um, they were pretty young, I want to say 18 and 21, that that would then make them eligible for parole now.

It would be a roundabout way of getting Eric and Lyle out of prison.  That being said, I will of course keep you updated, the next hearing is scheduled for June 13th, so we've got some time, but we'll see, it's a bit of a hit for this new DA to have withdrawn support, but there's still a shot that Eric and Lyle could  live life outside of the prison gates.

As always, thank you so much for listening, and I would love to hear from you, so don't forget to press send a text in the show notes of this episode, and send us your thoughts, your opinions, let me know what you think about the Menendez Brothers being released, should they, should they not, or you can tell me what your favorite discovery post pandemic has been after these five years.

You can find the podcast on Instagram at easilyentertainedpod  or TikTok at  maddieiseasleyentertained or on our brand new spanking website www.  easilyentertainedpodcast. com I will catch you next week. Bye for now, homies!