Burning Man festival: Diplo, Chris Rock escape flooding by catching ride in fan’s pickup

BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev. — While thousands of people have been stranded at the Burning Man festival due to flooding after heavy rains, two celebrities managed to hitch a ride out of the area.

>> Read more trending news

Comedian Chris Rock and disc jockey Diplo were able to leave the weather-plagued festival, after a fan gave the pair a lift in their pickup truck, Variety reported.

Diplo, 44, whose name is Thomas Wesley Pentz, posted a video on his Instagram and Twitter accounts on Saturday.

“I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out cuz i have a show in dc tonight and didnt want to let yall down,” Diplo wrote on Instagram. “Also shoutout to this guy for making the smart purchase of a truck not knowing it was for this exact moment.”

Rock meanwhile, just wanted a beer.

“If I could get a cold brew right now,” the 58-year-old comedian could be heard on Diplo’s video as the wind whipped around him. Rock wore a New York Mets windbreaker during the bumpy ride.

Rock also documented the pair’s trip, airing footage of the thick mud on his Instagram Story on Saturday, Us Weekly reported.

Neal Katyal, the former Acting Solicitor General during the Obama administration, left the festival by hiking, tweeting, “It was an incredibly harrowing 6 mile hike at midnight through heavy and slippery mud, but I got safely out of Burning Man. Never been before and it was fantastic (with brilliant art and fabulous music) …except the ending.”

More than 73,000 attendees at the annual festival were told to shelter in place in the Nevada desert on Saturday after a slow-moving rainstorm turned the area into a muddy mess, organizers said.

The event, which touts local art, self-reliance and self-expression, is held during the week leading up to Labor Day and culminates in the burning of an 8-foot wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, on the Saturday before the holiday. The practice began in 1986 on Baker Beach in San Francisco and shifted to the Nevada desert in 1991, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At least one death has been attributed to the weather conditions at the festival.

The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the person’s death.

“The family has been notified and the death is under investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release late Saturday night obtained by CNN. The sheriff’s office also said that the death “occurred during this rain event.”

©2023 Cox Media Group