A man died while attending the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.

The attendee, who was in his mid-50s, experienced a “medical emergency” while attending the annual event Thursday (Sept. 3), according to organizers.

“It is with heavy hearts that Burning Man Project confirms a Black Rock City participant in his mid-50s experienced a medical emergency,” the statement read. “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the participant’s family, friends, and those affected by this loss.”

The man “immediately received lifesaving measures, and was transported to the onsite center for emergency care where he was pronounced deceased,” the festival said.

The individual’s cause of death had not been revealed at press time. His identity was not being released until his family had been notified.

The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said deputies received a report of an unresponsive man found on the streets at the festival, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Authorities said there appeared to be no evidence of external foul play. The medical examiner was working to determine the man’s cause of death.

“The safety and well-being of our community and staff remain our highest priority,” Burning Man’s statement said.

The festival launched its 40th anniversary celebration at Black Rock Desert on Aug. 30 and is scheduled to wrap Monday (Sept. 7).

The attendee’s death comes as this year’s Burning Man festival has faced weather-related challenges, including heavy rain Friday (Sept. 4) that temporarily closed the main entrance and exit gate, according to TMZ. Organizers urged attendees to delay their travel and asked those already at the festival to avoid driving.

The incident comes one year after the death of 37-year-old Vadim Kruglov, who was found fatally stabbed inside a tent at Burning Man in August 2025. His death marked the festival’s first reported homicide.

Jay-Z opened his two-night stand at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday (Sept. 4) with a tribute to Beyoncé on her 45th birthday, pausing his set for the sold-out crowd to serenade her with “Happy Birthday” as fireworks lit up the stadium.

Beyoncé, watching from a VIP suite with friends, appeared on the venue’s giant screens in a hoodie, blowing kisses and waving to fans below.

The show marked Jay-Z’s first UK headline performance in nearly 13 years — his last solo London date was 2013’s Magna Carta World Tour at The O2 Arena — and the first time he’s played the city since 2018’s On the Run II Tour with Beyoncé. The run celebrates the 30th anniversary of his 1996 debut album, Reasonable Doubt, and follows a similarly star-studded trio of shows at New York’s Yankee Stadium last month, which also marked 25 years of The Blueprint.

Sir Idris Elba opened the night with the same spoken intro that led off Jay-Z’s 2007 album American Gangster, before Jay moved into a set spanning his catalog, from early cuts to career-defining hits. The night’s guest turns gave it the same event-show energy as the Yankee Stadium run: DJ Khaled joined for “God Did” alongside U.K. rapper Giggs, who also performed his own breakout single, “Talking the Hardest.” Later, Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean surprised the crowd with a run of Fugees classics — “Ready or Not,” “Killing Me Softly” and “Fu-Gee-La.”

The show drew a heavy celebrity turnout, including David Beckham, Cynthia Erivo, Michael B. Jordan, Rick Rubin, Thomas Tuchel, Dave, Olivia Dean, AJ Odudu and Kano.

Jay-Z plays a second Tottenham Hotspur date Saturday (Sept. 5) before the tour continues to Paris’s Stade de France on Sept. 10 and wraps with two shows at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium in late October — additional dates added on top of the run’s original schedule as demand grew.

A judge says Sean “Diddy” Combs can keep pursuing defamation claims over a NewsNation broadcast that suggested he laced baby oil with drugs to incapacitate alleged sexual assault victims.

A Friday (Sept. 4) court ruling, first obtained and reported by Billboard, denies motions by both NewsNation and lawyer Ariel Mitchell to outright dismiss Combs’ $100 million slander lawsuit. A third defendant in the case, Courtney Burgess, has not responded to the claims and is facing the prospect of default judgment.

Mitchell was the attorney for Burgess, who claims to know the Bad Boy Records founder and was a witness before the grand jury that charged Combs in 2024 over his sex parties known as “freak-offs.” The indictment claimed Combs kept “more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil” in his home for these events — a headline-grabbing allegation that quickly became synonymous with the case.

Burgess and Mitchell appeared on NewsNation for multiple interviews following Combs’ arrest. In one broadcast, Mitchell said she had done “research” indicating that baby oil could be mixed with drugs before being doused on a sexual assault victim, thereby “lowering her defenses.” Combs alleges in his lawsuit that this is scientifically baseless, and it was defamatory for Mitchell and NewsNation to spread such lies.

Judge John P. Cronan said in Friday’s order that there’s sufficient basis for Combs to allege defamation based on this statement. “In the view of the Court,” wrote the judge, “it is plausible that anyone who heard such a claim would at the very least entertain serious doubts as to its accuracy.”

The judge ruled that Combs can also keep suing Mitchell for saying during the NewsNation interviews that Burgess had access to video recordings of Combs engaged in sexual assault, which Combs unequivocally denies. However, the judge said NewsNation itself cannot be held liable for those statements, since the cable news channel provided all the proper context for its viewers.

“NewsNation presented Burgess’s claims as exactly what they were: allegations,” wrote Judge Cronan. “The host reminded viewers that Combs ‘has not been convicted of any crimes’ and that ‘everything against him is an allegation until it is proven in a court of law.’”

Reps for Combs, NewsNation and Mitchell did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday’s ruling.

The decision is not a final determination on the merits of any claims, but rather a procedural step that allows Combs to move forward with obtaining evidence from Mitchell and NewsNation through the discovery process. The next phase would be a trial, unless a settlement is reached to resolve the case.

This is further than Combs got in his other major defamation lawsuit against a media network, NBCUniversal; in April, a judge threw out his claims over the 2025 Peacock documentary The Making of a Bad Boy after determining that it complied with journalistic standards. Combs is appealing that ruling.

Combs is currently serving prison time for illegal prostitution, though he was acquitted at trial of more serious charges that sought to frame his “freak-off” parties as the results of a racketeering and sex-trafficking enterprise. He’s currently scheduled to be released in early 2028.