Forgive me — but what was Eminem’s business at the 2020 Oscars?
Correct me if I’m wrong (I’m not), but he was nominated for zero awards, and with no new songs featured in any new major films. Eminem really had no reason to be at The Academy Awards, let alone take the stage in a segment around the visceral effects great music has on films. Or maybe I’m missing something.
It’s especially random for the The Academy to grant Eminem — an artist who has had beef with most of Hollywood (Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Limp Bizkit to name a few) — five minutes of air time when Brad Pitt and other actors nominated tonight will have only 45 seconds to relay their thanks and appreciation in acceptance speeches.
Apparently I’m not the only one miffed by the surprise performance. While Eminem’s performance did receive a standing ovation, the faces of many A-list attendees expressed confusion.
As did my group chat which proceeded to blow up the very second he took the mic.
the reactions to that Eminem performance were so good #Oscars pic.twitter.com/981WiI8mix
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 10, 2020
why pic.twitter.com/TscfAf4ydz
— rob sheffield (@robsheff) February 10, 2020
Following the performance, Eminem took to Twitter to explain why he was at the awards.
Look, if you had another shot, another opportunity… Thanks for having me @TheAcademy. Sorry it took me 18 years to get here. pic.twitter.com/CmSw2hmcZo
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) February 10, 2020
Eminem released a new album, Music to Be Murdered By, last month without pre-promotion. As a result, not many people knew about his new music so it was somewhat surprising when his name made headlines for another reason recently.
Eminem was at the centre of a fake news blast last week, sparked off the back of a meme that suggested he may have contracted the coronavirus based on lyrics that doubled as symptoms.
Eminem’s Lose Yourself was the first hip-hop track to win an Oscar for Best Original Song for 8 Mile in 2003.
The artist, otherwise known as Marshall Mathers, was given one shot, one opportunity to perform the song at the awards in that year, but he missed his chance to blow, and instead blew off the performance after he found out certain lyrics would require censoring.
Now 17 years later Eminem was granted another chance out of the blue.
Turns out opportunity comes twice in a lifetime, yo.
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