East Village Wing Shop Blames ‘Fyre Festival’ Superbowl Disaster on Equipment Failure

An East Village wings bar is attempting to make amends following what people are calling “the Fyre Festival of wings” when it could not complete many preorders on Super Bowl Sunday.

An Atomic Wings spokesperson says in a statement that this franchise location, at 184 First Ave., between East 11th and 12th streets, “had an equipment failure midway through Superbowl Sunday, which severely impacted their ability to cook wings.” The result was a flood of Yelp reviews and Tweets, as well as a photo on EV Grieve that shows a crowd of people vying for wings that had been preordered and prepaid for.

Many were upset, and the comparisons to the scam that was Fyre Festival quickly rolled in. “Biggest scam in New York City. 4 hours later and still no wings,” one Yelp reviewer wrote.

But Atomic Wings insists there was no scam. “The staff worked incredibly hard under tremendous pressure to fulfill as many orders as possible,” the statement says. “We were able to fulfill 90 percent of the orders, but in the end we fell short, and for this we are greatly sorry.”

The location has now issued refunds as well as store credit up to $30 per unreceived order to everyone who reached out, and delivered free wings to some customers.

“This franchisee does a lot for the community,” the spokesperson says. “He’s donated to the local school and frequently donates food to the women’s shelter.”