“Kimbal and I spoke almost two weeks ago and he chose not to continue his board service. He sent in his letter to the board last week,” said Goodell’s email, sent Wednesday. “We don’t announce additions and departures to the board. Kimbal was there to represent Elon’s donation in 2021. He was never on the website by his choice and he is no longer a board member.”
Goodell’s message came in response to the artist asking to remove their work (opens in new tab) from consideration for a Burning Man grant due to the organization’s association with Musk.
It’s been a turbulent few years for the Burning Man organization. | Source: Courtesy of Burning Man/Benjamin Langholz
Based on Goodell’s email, Musk resigned before the latest release of Epstein files. Musk’s name appeared more than 100 times in this batch (opens in new tab), including in messages arranging meetings and thanking Epstein for “connecting” him to a woman in 2012.
The open letter, published at RemoveKimbal.org (opens in new tab), asked the Burning Man organization to provide transparency on whether Musk’s involvement with the board aligned with the organization’s mission: “The documented pattern of association with a convicted sex offender — and the nature of that association as revealed in the files — raises serious questions about judgment and values that the Burning Man community deserves to have addressed.”
Musk, Goodell, and the Burning Man organization did not respond to requests for comment.
Burners chimed in on Reddit, saying that they, too, (opens in new tab) had heard from the organization that Musk was no longer on the board. While the community celebrated Musk’s departure, some criticized the organization for not making a public statement. Burning Man has never proactively engaged with the community (opens in new tab) about Musk’s role on its board, and many were frustrated by the continued lack of communication.
“This all proves to us how secretive and wildly untransparent the supposed stewards of Burning Man continue to act,” one person wrote.“[Goodell] has to issue a formal statement for this to have any merit, full stop,” wrote another. “Word of mouth via Internet forums isn’t gonna cut it.”
It’s been a turbulent few years for the Burning Man organization. After sluggish ticket sales in 2024 following the “mudpocalypse” a year earlier, the organization made an urgent call for donations to cover a $20 million budget shortfall. At the time, much of the community responded with frustration over what they saw as a lack of transparency from the Burning Man organization, as well as increased spending on areas outside the core August event. Additionally, the event’s participants have been getting older, without a new cohort of young revelers to fill in the gaps (opens in new tab).
Last year’s celebration was marred by particularly brutal weather conditions and a homicide on the Playa.