Eminem

Controversy

With the enormous popularity of Eminem's second album, the controversy surrounding Eminem grew even larger, especially when The Marshall Mathers LP was nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year. Though Mathers had always claimed that his lyrics were not meant to be taken seriously, and that he had nothing against homosexuals or women, the gay rights group GLAAD organized a boycott of the Grammys against Eminem. Mathers responded to this by singing "Stan" on-stage with bisexual singer Elton John, ending the performance by hugging John to show that he didn't have anything against homosexuals. Though it shocked a lot of people, this gesture failed to appease all of his critics.

Related Topics:
Grammy - GLAAD - Elton John

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Since Eminem's rapid ascent to fame, tell-all biographies of varying quality have been published, including Shady Bizzness by his former bodyguard Byron Williams. Eminem himself has written a book called Angry Blonde, released in 2000, where he reveals the emotions and intent behind the lyrics in the Marshall Mathers LP, and describes his passion and approach to rapping.

Related Topics:
Shady Bizzness - Byron Williams - Angry Blonde - 2000

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As one of six members of the rap group D12, Eminem appeared on the album Devil's Night, released in 2001. The album was certified multi-platinum. The album contained the single Purple Pills, renamed Purple Hills for radio play. Another song, Blow My Buzz, was on the soundtrack for the film The Wash (2001), in which Eminem had a cameo.

Related Topics:
D12 - Purple Pills

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Eminem's third major album, The Eminem Show was released in summer 2002. It featured the single "Without Me", an apparent sequel to "The Real Slim Shady" in which he makes derogatory comments about boy bands, *NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick, Limp Bizkit, Moby, and Lynne Cheney, among others.

Related Topics:
*NSYNC - Chris Kirkpatrick - Limp Bizkit - Moby - Lynne Cheney

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On November 19, 2003 new controversy surrounded Eminem when a cassette tape was played during a press conference held by The Source magazine. The cassette featured Mathers performing a freestyle rap in which he made disparaging remarks about black women, calling them "dumb chicks" in comparison to white women and claimed they are only after money. Other racial slurs and remarks were on the tape, including the use of the word "nigger". Mathers claimed he made the recording after breaking up with his black girlfriend in 1988, however The Source claimed the tapes were recorded in 1994, and old friends of Eminem's claimed he never had a black girlfriend. The ordeal would later end up with Eminem filing a lawsuit against The Source for alleged copyright infringement. Benzino is currently feuding with Eminem (see Benzino and The Source on the on-going feud with Eminem).

Related Topics:
November 19 - 2003 - The Source - Freestyle rap - Benzino

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On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Mathers had threatened the President of the United States after the unreleased song "We as Americans" (since included on Encore) leaked onto the Internet. The lyrics in question: Fuck money/ I don't rap for dead presidents/ I'd rather see the president dead/ It's never been said, but I set precedents.

Related Topics:
December 8 - 2003 - United States Secret Service - President of the United States - Encore - Internet

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Then, in 2004, Eminem made the video My Band with D12. The controversial song was the band's sarcastic response to the media's frequent portrayal of D-12 as Eminem's band, giving little or no credit to its other members. The video contained various parodies, including that of the Janet Jackson 'incident', and of 50 Cent's "In Da Club" video.

Related Topics:
2004 - My Band - Janet Jackson 'incident' - 50 Cent's

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On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of Just Lose It, Eminem's first video and single off Encore, Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson's child-molestation accusations, his rhinoplasty, and an incident in which Jackson's hair caught on fire while he was filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to Just Lose It also refer to Jackson's troubles. In the video, Eminem also parodied Pee Wee Herman, MC Hammer, and a Blonde-Ambition-touring Madonna. Harvey himself declared, "Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back." http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=3606

Related Topics:
October 12 - Just Lose It - Michael Jackson - Steve Harvey - Rhinoplasty - Pee Wee Herman - MC Hammer - Madonna

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Black Entertainment Television was the first channel to stop airing the video. MTV, however, announced it would continue airing the video and Just Lose It became the number-one requested video on Total Request Live for the week ending October 22. The Source magazine, through its CEO Raymond "Benzino" Scott, wanted not only the video pulled, but the song off the album, and a public apology to Jackson from Eminem http://www.sohh.com/thewire/read.php?contentID=6321.

Related Topics:
Black Entertainment Television - Total Request Live - The Source - Benzino

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Others dismissed Just Lose It as a tame "Weird Al" Yankovic-style knockoff http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,15126,00.html. Regarding Jackson's protest, Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song Lose Yourself on a track entitled Couch Potato on his 2003 album Poodle Hat, himself told the Chicago Sun-Times, "Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my 'Lose Yourself' parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career. So the irony of this situation with Michael is not lost on me".

Related Topics:
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Couch Potato - 2003 - Poodle Hat - Chicago Sun-Times

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On October 26 2004 a week before the U.S. presidential election, 2004, Eminem released the video for his song titled "Mosh" on the Internet. The song features a very strong anti-Bush message, with lyrics such as "fuck Bush" and "this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president". The video features Eminem gathering up an army of people presented as victims of the Bush administration and leading them to the White House. However, once the army breaks in, it is revealed that they are there to simply register to vote, and the video ends with the words "VOTE Tuesday November 2" on the screen. After Bush won the election, the video's ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading while Bush was giving a speech. On October 31, Eminem performed the song on Saturday Night Live, but some thought that he appeared to be lip-synching it only a week after Ashlee Simpson was caught lip-synching her performance on the program. None of the publicity helped the album however, which saw its sales stall at 4.7 million copies. Good for other artists, but off dramatically from his past two hits.

Related Topics:
October 26 - 2004 - U.S. presidential election, 2004 - Mosh - Bush - White House - October 31 - Saturday Night Live - Lip-sync - Ashlee Simpson

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In summer 2005, Mathers embarked on his first U.S. concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring Lil' Jon, 50 Cent and G-Unit, D-12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Eminem canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication". http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20050819/en_music_eo/17184.

Related Topics:
Lil' Jon - 50 Cent - G-Unit - D-12 - Obie Trice - The Alchemist - August

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At the same time as he was entering rehab, his aunt and uncle, Jack and Betty Schmitt, sued Mathers, charging that he had reneged on a promise to build a $350,000 house for them and supply them with money for the house's upkeep. The couple claimed that Mathers had kept the house in his name, and then issued them eviction orders.

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