Hot August Nights, the annual classic car and rock ‘n’ roll event in Reno and Virginia City, Nevada, announced that it had revoked the registrations of several participants after an explosive incident in which a Black man was confronted with racial slurs by a group of cranky old white men.
Hot August Nights issued a statement confirming that it has identified those involved in the video and revoked their event registrations. The organization clarified that no Hot August Nights representatives, volunteers, or staff were featured in the video; the individuals wearing badges were merely participants.
None of the white people involved have been publicly identified by authorities, but social media sleuths called out a family in Virginia City, but there was no official confirmation.
The TikTok video in question was filmed at the FireHouse Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada.
The Storey County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene on Aug. 2, but no arrests were made. Following an investigation, the case has since been forwarded to the District Attorney’s office for potential charges.
The middle-aged Black man who filmed the incident, known as unclerickd1 on TikTok, posted a follow-up video the next day expressing gratitude for the support he received after experiencing a situation that felt like a return to the Jim Crow era.
“Uncle Ricky” said he began filming after an old white man allegedly made a remark suggesting there was a “hanging tree” for people like him.
He said he spoke respectfully to the old man when he asked if he wanted to register to vote.
Video of the racially charged episode has since gone viral on social media following the racially charged drama right outside the saloon.
The incident sparked outrage on social media, with many calling for a boycott of the establishment. Local officials, including Storey County Manager Austin Osborne, have condemned the alleged racist behavior, emphasizing that it does not represent the values of the community.
After receiving a firestorm of complaints after the incident, the Firehouse Saloon made a Facebook post saying, “Those people in the video are absolutely %100 NOT US.”
However, one of the people involved in the confrontation was wearing a Firehouse Saloon tank top, and at one point in the video, she ordered the Black man off the sidewalk while claiming the business was “my property.”
The scene was filmed on a sidewalk in front of the restaurant and next door to a double garage in the local marketplace district. When the video started, the heated exchange was already at the point of no return.
The first person who comes into view is a white man who looks defiantly into the camera while flipping up two middle fingers. Behind the camera is the younger Black man, whose words suggest he was at the festival registering people to vote.
The Black man tried to goad the old man into repeating the racist remark since he wasn’t filming when he spoke disrespectfully the first time.
“Keep talking,” the Black man shouted off-screen. “And where the tree at, to hang people at? Where’s that?’ he continued lashing out, urging the white man to repeat himself.
The old white man stood in silence for a bit, trying to look tough, with his fists balled up.
“Where’s the hanging tree at?” the Black man repeated louder.
The white man finally spoke, but he sounded unsure of himself.
“In your backyard,” he said.
The old man stood his ground, and one of his pals, wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap, approached from behind with a grin, patted his shoulder, and gave him a supportive “atta boy.”
Meanwhile, the man’s other white friends sat off to the side, chuckling and seemingly reveling in the fiery confrontation stirred up by their bigoted friend.
Moments later, an unidentified white woman approached, attempting to defuse the situation.
However, the Black man resisted her efforts, worried that she might perceive him as the aggressor.
“No, no, no,” he protested before setting the woman straight. “He just said there’s a hanging tree down there to hang people like me. That’s racist!”
The woman gently put her hand on the man’s arm and agreed with the Black man.
“It is,” she said, meeting the grinning man’s gaze. “That’s very racist,” she told him, but it had no effect on a man set in his ways.
“That’s racist,” the Black man repeated before shaming the man’s friends for standing by in silence.
“Y’all are gonna take his back when he’s being racist?” the Black man exclaimed.
Thats when the old white man began mocking him by mimicking a crying baby, saying, “He’s a crying motherf—ker, he’s a crying motherf—ker,” before heading back to his chair.
By this time, the Black man was becoming enraged, yelling at the top of his voice and drawing embarrassing stares from other people at the festival. Another woman in the crowd tried to intervene, but the Black man’s voice drowned her out.
The old white man appeared to be getting nervous.
“Oh man, come on, get outta here, get the f—k outta here,” he said.
That’s when the Black man erupted.
“Man, you know what, F—k you! And I’m not leaving. Make me leave, motherf—ker! Cause I can’t take it!”
The cantankerous old man responded with a childish comeback: “I don’t make trash; I burn it.”
He sat down, looking proud of himself after getting in the last word.
Meanwhile, the white man’s friends sat silently, barely containing their laughter as they witnessed the exchange.
“And y’all laughing at this? This is what y’all like?” the Black man said, turning the camera toward them now.
Bravely, the Black man continued blasting all the white men in the area collectively, and when he panned the camera, he appeared to be surrounded by old white men with no Black people in sight.
There were at least three of them, including the one in the red MAGA hat, standing nearby with serious expressions, seemingly poised to intervene if the situation escalated. One of these men approached and shook the old man’s hand, signaling his support and solidarity.
“I’m having a great day,” the old man can be heard telling the hipster who walked up in a peach-colored fishing shirt and matching ballcap, with square sunglasses and a drooping handlebar mustache.
He can be heard on the video warning the old man that the incident might make it onto the 5 o’clock news if he wasn’t careful.
Things seemed to calm down for a brief moment, but the Black man wasn’t done fuming.
“F—k all of y’all, and I’mma stay right here cause y’all don’t scare me,” he said.
The old white man wasn’t done either, making a sexually suggestive joke at the Black man while pointing to his crotch.
At this point, the mustachioed man turned toward the Black man and, in a calm voice, said, “I thought you said you had a job?”
“I got a job,” the Black man said.
“Well, go do it,” the white man whispered as if he had the perfect solution to the matter.
“Man, f—k you; you do it,” the Black man shot back.
“Just go do your job,” the white man said again, never acknowledging the racism that the Black man had encountered.
“You go do your job,” the Black man told him.
“I’m doing my job,” the white man said before dismissing himself.
That’s when the white man in the red MAGA hat stepped up to the Black man, leading to an all-out cussing match before the two old white men began laughing hysterically.
Behind them, two white women appeared from inside the saloon.
The Black man was respectful to them at first, saying, “How are you doing?” — but he quickly corrected himself after they made clear whose side they would take in the fight.
“This is my house,” one of the women said.
“All right, well, why is he being f—king racist to me, talking about there being a f—king hanging tree down there? Are you along with that?” the Black man put her on the spot, causing her to pause.
Despite the intensity of the moment, the old white man laughed gleefully from his chair.
“You know, he’s my dad, first off,” the younger woman said, gearing up for her own argument, but by that point, the older woman had ducked under a chain link gate and lumbered toward the Black man and bullied him off the edge of the sidewalk, repeating, “Get off my property.”
“Don’t f—king touch me,” the man shouted several times, backing up to avoid any contact with the larger woman. “I’m not on your property. Do y’all see this sh-t?” the man yells to other white people nearby who appear disinterested.
“I’m not saying nothing. I’m telling you to get off my property,” the woman said, getting in the man’s personal space.
As she turned to walk away, the man shouted “F-ck you!” behind her back.
The camera then captures her quickly approaching the man in an intimidating posture, her eyebrows raised as she walked up, coming nearly nose-to-nose with him.
“Slap me, hit me! I want you to!” the man yelled, bracing for impact.
But in a sudden shift, the woman’s demeanor changed as she began smiling and awkwardly trying to hug the man, saying, “I love you. You’re my brother.”
But the Black man rejected her charade.
Perhaps sensing the negative optics, the older woman quickly adjusts her approach, attempting to placate the man by calling him “brother” and saying, “Jesus loves you.”
As they walked down the street, the man repeatedly asked her to stop touching him.
In the background, people can be seen milling about with their hands in their pockets, not saying anything, not reacting, making the man more emotional as he realizes he is alone.
Toward the end of the video, he fully explained the situation to the old man’s daughter.
“Your dad just said there’s a hanging tree for n—ers like me. What does that mean?” he screamed through tears. And I did not disrespect your dad. I asked him nicely, ‘Excuse me, sir, are you a registered voter?’ He said no. I said thank you. And then he turned around and said there was a hanging tree down the road for n—ers like me.”
Someone in the background, presumably the old man’s daughter, can be heard exclaiming, “Oh, hell no.”
“That’s exactly what the f-ck he said. All of them ganged up on me,” the man fumed, lamenting that everyone seemed indifferent to the racist behavior. “And everybody is going along with that sh-t.”
The woman’s voice can be heard again: “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
A Storey County sheriff’s deputy was in the vicinity and took a report. The department later issued a statement condemning racism, according to 2 News Nevada.
“We at the sheriff’s office do not condone or support racism, inequality, or hate speech … All reports to the Storey County Sheriff’s Office are investigated thoroughly and treated seriously. A case has been pulled regarding this incident and is being investigated.”
Following the incident, Hot August Nights said it would conduct a thorough review of the Virginia City venue, suggesting it might change in the future due to the disgusting display on Aug. 2.
