True crime YouTubers Robert and Emma Forney are facing legal action from Burning Man organizers after they released a controversial documentary about the festival’s cleanup process. The father-daughter duo run the popular YouTube channel Explore With Us, which has nearly 7 million subscribers. They filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Nevada, claiming their constitutional rights were violated when they were stopped from filming at the Black Rock Desert site.
The Forneys posted a nearly two-hour documentary in August titled What Burning Man Doesn’t Want You to See. The video showed trash and debris left behind after the 2024 festival. It has gained over 670,000 views across Facebook and YouTube. The documentary challenges Burning Man’s reputation as the world’s largest “leave no trace” event. According to their lawsuit, obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the filmmakers were given a trespass warning by local deputies and Bureau of Land Management officers while trying to document the cleanup work in September 2024.
