Ja Rule 'heartbroken' by Fyre Festival failure

Rapper Ja Rule has assured fans his canceled Fyre Festival in the Bahamas is "not a scam", insisting he is "heartbroken" by the disastrous turn of events.

The Always On Time hitmaker teamed up with technology entrepreneur Billy McFarland to launch the inaugural luxury bash, which was set to take place over two weekends, starting on Friday (28Apr17) and continuing into May (17).

Fans were charged thousands of dollars for travel packages to see special performances from the likes of Major Lazer, Tyga, Pusha T, and Desiigner on the Exuma Cays, but those who arrived on Thursday (27Apr17) were left furious after discovering the plush villas they were promised were more like "disaster relief tents".

According to complaints on social media, attendees were also disappointed with the bad catering, and were even more stunned to find the site of the scheduled concerts in chaos, with nothing properly set up for the event.

Festival organizers, who also had to deal with rockers Blink-182 pulling out of the event at late notice due to promoter concerns, initially acknowledged the troubles as an "unexpected start" and vowed to press on with the show, but by Friday morning, bosses decided to postpone the gigs indefinitely and refund ticketholders, citing "circumstances beyond our control".

Now Ja Rule has broken his silence about the failed festival in an apologetic note posted to Twitter.

"We are working right now on getting everyone of (sic) the island SAFE. That is my immediate concern," reads the message, which the hip-hop star reveals will be followed up by an official statement in due course.

"I'm heartbroken at this moment," he continues. "My partners and I wanted this to be an amazing event. It was NOT A SCAM. I truly apologize as this is NOT MY FAULT... but I'm taking responsibility. I'm deeply sorry to everyone who was inconvenienced by this."

Ja Rule's comments emerge hours after officials at the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism issued a statement detailing how "extremely disappointed" they were in the "total disorganization and chaos" of the event.

They made it clear they are not official sponsors of the Fyre Festival, but would be on hand to help visitors get home safely.

A U.S. State Department representative also told TMZ.com they have been monitoring the situation and are "ready to provide appropriate consular services to any U.S. citizens in need".