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Oliver Anthony was reportedly "stuck in floods" at Burning Man and his attendance at the festival has earned him the ire of some people online.
The overnight country music sensation was due to appear on the Midwestern Marx podcast on Sunday, according to the hosts, but could not do it because he was one of 70,000 people trapped at the remote festival site in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
Severe weather conditions and heavy rainfall led to the desert plain turning into a massive mud bath, forcing organizers to close roads in and out of the festival. Attendees were told to seek shelter in their tents and preserve their food while they waited for the green light to leave.
One of those people was allegedly Anthony, according to the podcast host who read out an email he claimed was from the singer explaining why he was not able to do an interview.
"He was still hoping to make it today... but sounds like it's pretty bad," the host said.
"We don't know when we'll be able to reschedule the interview. Oliver's representative told us that he'll be out there for at least another day. So honestly, right now, we're mostly just concerned with his safety and hopefully he can make it out of this situation safe and then we can reschedule the interview for a different time."
Anthony confirmed to Newsweek that he did attend Burning Man, but not as a spectator.
"I was at Burning Man, but it was to film a music video. I was not there to participate in the bulls***," he told Newsweek.
"One of the podcasts I was going on leaked this information after speaking with one of my people, who is no longer with my team. This was taken completely out of context."
Despite what was said on the podcast, another person on Instagram claimed Anthony had returned home for the Labor Day weekend. Anthony is from Farmville, Virginia, where he used to work in a factory before his meteoric rise in country music.
"My boy came home for the long weekend," a man called Mark Casey captioned a post of him apparently posing with Anthony.
Newsweek reached out to Casey via Instagram to confirm the location and date the photo was taken.
Anthony rose to fame in early August after podcaster Joe Rogan shared a clip of his song "Rich Men North of Richmond" to his X account, formerly known as Twitter.
He quickly became the darling of conservatives who endorsed his lyrics about obesity, "welfare cheats," taxation, QAnon and Jeffrey Epstein.
But some also turned their back on him just as quickly after he described himself as a centrist and said the working class of America was a diverse "melting pot." Many also accused him of faking his "hillbilly accent" for effect.
When they heard he was allegedly attending Burning Man, some were less than impressed.
"Wait, Burning Man is expensive as f***. How did Oliver Anthony afford to go there, if he's such a working man's hero?" wrote one person on X.
Another posted: "Apparently Oliver Anthony can't go on the communist podcast because he's stuck in the mud at Burning Man lmao."
And a third commented: "The Rich Men North of Richmond guy being at Burning Man is actually the funniest development that could've happened in this whole saga. Man makes a whole song talking about wealthy elites leaving people behind and whatever going to a festival literally full of those exact people."
But some questioned the legitimacy of the podcast host's claims.
"I need actual proof Oliver Anthony is at Burning Man lmao, because the only evidence I can see is linking back to Midwestern Marx saying it," commented one.
Update 09/06/23, 06:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from Anthony.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more