Heavy rains poured in the desert of Black Rock City, Nevada, where the festival Burning Man is held annually. The overabundance of mud meant that attendees couldn't drive out and even hiking the 6 miles to the main road proved to be difficult.
Over the decades, the week-long community has been largely attended by artists and hippies, but in the past several years, long-time attendees argue it has become too commercialized with Silicon Valley tech-bros, a new crop of millionaire and billionaire technology moguls, The New York Times reported in a 2014 report. In 2018, such attendees were trashed as "sparkle ponies."
This year seemed to reach peak mainstream when the event described by the Times as "50,000 stoned, half-naked hippies doing sun salutations while techno music thumps through the air" welcomed a Fox network correspondent reporting live for the far-right network from the event.
Clad in a fur vest and a fur captain's hat, Claudia Cowan told the network, "We are fine."
She explained that there was some anxiety among those who were missing flights home or were concerned about returning the RVs and rental cars.
"But most of us are just hunkering down, making the best of this situation," she said. "It's still a fun Burning Man."
She went on to explain that their "camp" was still open and there were still "dance parties" happening.
"But the principals of communal effort, self-reliance, immediacy, and participation, that's all coming into play, even as these roads remain closed," Cowan said on a network that regularly trashes communism and socialism. "The main principle is 'gifting.'"
The co-hosts smiled with enthusiasm.
She also said that there were some newbies that weren't prepared for something like this with food and other supplies, but that the community has rallied to help each other.
While the interview lasted over six minutes, Fox spent nearly 15 minutes on their Burning Man segment.
See the clip in the video below or at the link here.
Fox hosts aghast as a colleague is stranded at Burning Man www.youtube.com
