UPDATE: In a video posted on Instagram, Anthony suggests that he did not go to Burning Man…

//

This week’s Billboard Hot 100 hasn’t come out yet, which means that Oliver Anthony’s reactionary country-folk anthem “Rich Men North Of Richmond” is still the #1 song in America. One month ago, Anthony was a total unknown, and his sudden rise has been one of the biggest running stories in music. Another big running story, in music and elsewhere, is the heavy rain in the Nevada desert, which has turned the annual Burning Man Festival into a deadly mud pit, stranding tens of thousands of people. Reportedly, one of those people is Oliver Anthony.

Over the weekend, the heavy rain at Burning Man made the landscape impossible for vehicles to navigate. Organizers posted a survival guide and instructed attendees to shelter in place. At least one death has been linked to the rains. Diplo and Chris Rock walked out of the site and caught a ride with some random people.

A few weeks ago, the socialist political journal Midwestern Marx announced that its hosts would interview Oliver Anthony on September 3. In a live broadcast on Sunday, the show’s three hosts explained that the interview had to be postponed because “our man Oliver Anthony has been trapped in the flooding at Burning Man… 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.” They went on to say that Anthony had been emailing with them and that he is not a right-wing industry plant.

Now, this whole thing raises some questions. For instance: Oliver Anthony was at Burning Man? And also: Oliver Anthony was going to do an interview with something called Midwestern Marx? It seems entirely that this whole thing is a goofy hoax, but Anthony did go online last week, after “Rich Men North Of Richmond” came up at a Republican presidential debate, to say that his song “was written about the people on that stage, and a lot more, too — not just them, but definitely them.” (Also, Anthony shared a new song called “90 Some Chevy” over the weekend.)

In other Burning Man news, Diplo went on CNN to talk about his escape from the festival site. After posting a TikTok of himself and Chris Rock riding in the back of someone’s pickup truck, he told hosts that he and Rock had walked six miles through mud before being picked up. He also said that come other celebrities, including Cindy Crawford, Austin Butler, and Kaia Gerber, did the same thing.

Also, President Biden has reportedly been briefed on the Burning Man situation, so everyone can rest easy.