He may have a specific person in mind with his "gay-boy" lyric. There would be nothing but outright condemnation.įortunately, the world has moved on, even if Eminem hasn't. There would be no praise heaped on the rapper. Go back and substitute the word "gay" in the above lyrics with the word "n-er" or "Jew" and tell me how that would go over. He just uses homophobic lyrics to stir up controversy and sales. Next will come the social progressives-including some LGBT folk, no doubt-who will stand up and claim they know Eminem, and he's no homophobe. In that Cooper interview, Eminem tried to disassociate the term "f-ggot" from the gay community by saying that where he grew up, "the word was thrown around constantly, to each other, like in battling," Ok, Em, so what about "gay-boy"? Is that also not really a reference to gays? Let's fast forward, shall we? Once the brouhaha settles down a bit, Eminem will probably sit down for an interview with someone affable and relevant-let's say Jimmy Kimmel-much as he did with Anderson Cooper in 2010, to explain that he has nothing against gays in general. Richard Lane, media manager at Stonewall, said: "Eminem seems stuck in the last century with these outdated and deeply offensive lyrics." A representative for Eminem didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Several have already decried the lyrics, as have many LGBT rights groups. It would be even more so without the needlessly offensive parts.Īs expected, the commentators have started chiming in. MTV News refers to the track's "expertly laid verses." Is the song impressive? Absolutely ( here's what Speakeasy wrote about it). Time called the single "divine." Rolling Stone chimed in about the song's influences without commenting once on its content. Perhaps worse than this cynical ploy are all the media outlets falling all over themselves to praise the rapper's flow, all while ignoring the content. In October, a track called “What If I Was Gay” leaked online, with Eminem and rapper Joyner Lucas speculating how their friendship would handle one of them revealing they were queer.A representative for Eminem didn't return a request for a comment. “The word that I called him on the album, on that song was one of the things where I felt like, ‘This might be too far.’ Because in my quest to hurt him, I realized that I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it.” “I was angry when I said the shit about Tyler,” he explained. “You've made my gardener so jealous!”Įminem has his own history of homophobic lyrics, including calling Tyler the Creator a faggot on the song “Fall” from his album Kamikaze, something he later apologized for. I never even had a chauffeur, you bougie f*ck.” He also demanded an apology from “Nicholas,” joking that his staff was upset they hadn’t gotten the same treatment as the alleged chauffeur. “His lawyers didn’t want that one out! They already on my line.”Įminem fired off a few tweets in response. “FACTS,” he wrote while quoting a tweet with the lyrics. “You paid him off then laid him off / Now who really the opps.”Ĭannon later claimed that the homophobic lyrics were based in truth and the Eminem’s legal team is trying to silence him. “I heard your chauffeur got a video of you sucking a cock,” Cannon raps on the track. He’s still technically alive, but after releasing a homophobic diss track aimed at Eminem, he may not be long for this world.Ĭannon dropped “The Invitation” on Monday, in which he attempted to drag the rapper with a litany of insults, including claims that Eminem is secretly gay and has paid off his sexual partners to keep it secret. If you woke up to the trending hashtag #RIPNickCannon and thought the man best known as Mariah Carey’s ex-husband had died, you’re not totally wrong.