Eminem's MTV Fit Not Stuntin
Personally, I was TIVO'ing my way through most of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. I just couldn't get into it (In comparison, this year's Oscars were so, so much better). Although mostly the same awards show we expect from MTV (lots of SNL humor and teen screaming), LeAnn Rimes singing a rendition of host Andy Samberg's "Jizz In My Pants" and Forest Whitaker's "Dick In A Box" were cringingly funny highlights.
But clearly the WTF moment of the night was Sacha Baron Cohen teabagging Slim Shady on national television. My colleague and URB editor Josh Glazer has some thoughts on Em's reaction:
By now, everyone's seen this clip of Sacha Baron Cohen as Bruno putting his now famous man muffin on Eminem's chin and the rapper's subsequent storming out on the MTV Movie Awards. And while Cohen and MTV were obviously in on the joke, I had my doubts about Eminem (update: who allegedly admitted it was rehearsed)
It's not that I doubt the lengths to which stars will go to get attention by acting the fool. It's that having grown up just a few miles from the actual Detroit suburb where Eminem was raised (10 Mile, to answer your obvious question), I've known enough folks like Marshall Mathers to know that you can take the kid out of Warren, MI, but you can't take Warren, MI, blah, blah, blah...
Detroit, like so much of the Midwest, is rife with the sort of reactionary, humorless, impatient and aggressive characters that Eminem has come to embody in the American psyche. Sure, Em has played up that character -- Slim Shady being the ultimate id of such personality (dis)orders. But that doesn't mean it's not real. If anything, Marshall has emphasized the realness of this mentality in his own life. The troubled upbringing -- real. Having your best friend killed at an actual club on 8 Mile -- real. Responding to fame by sinking into a years long pill stupor -- real, and the entire basis for his long awaited comeback album, Relapse.With all this realness, why are so many quick to jump on the belief that the anger shown by Em (a career homophobe, Elton John or not) would be staged? Obviously, we've gotten so used to celebrity misbehavior that we imagine there must be an element of self-awareness to the tomfoolery. There can't be that many accidental nip slips. And then there's the fact that despite everything, Eminem
wasis a major talent whom we want to embrace, but without facing all the unpleasant hang-ups, many of which we share with the protagonist. I frankly don't want Bruno's taint on my neck either.It's easier to assume this is a character act than acknowledge that we like the highly unlikeable person that is Marshall Mathers. But I know in my gut that his anger is real, having spent way too many days of my youth with folks like Marshall Mathers -- hard, fronting, unpleasant, prejudice, homophobic, blue collar, hip-hop loving white boys -- to shrug it off as stagecraft. And even if I'm wrong. Even if Eminem was in on the whole thing, the character he plays is the real thing all over the country. He even said it himself:
"And every single person is a Slim Shady lurkin
He could be workin at Burger King, spittin on your onion rings
[*HACH*] Or in the parkin lot, circling
Screaming 'I don't give a fuck!'
with his windows down and his system up"("The Real Slim Shady")
HuffPost blogger Brandon Perkins reviews Em's Relapse
This editorial was originally published on URB.COM
Follow Raymond Leon Roker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raymondroker
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Anger and aggression are different but related. Aggression can be fresh and free of old hang-ups, and quite destructive in spite of this. But sometimes something needs destroying, sometimes it's tragic.
Anger can be old and poisonous, but well-managed, leading to passive-aggressive behavoirs which are less obviously traceable to the destruction they may cause. Sometimes the destruction is liberating, sometimes nightmarish.
People might as well have a more abstract or absurdist view of things. Whether Eminem was expecting to get tea-bagged by "Bruno" or not isn't the issue. It's how he handles it that counts.
I think it would be all the more hilarious if he was surprised by Sacha's ass in his face. If so, the walk-out was understandable, but quite entertaining for everyone else. If he knew, then it's less entertaining.
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And all I gotta say is, "Lookin' real good Meyer, lookin' REAL good..."
biggest fault in logic by your buddy, mr. roker, is that marshall mathers MUST be a certain way because he grew up in a certain area. yet, your friend grew up in the same area. is he a calloused, homophobic, prejudiced unpleasant person as well?
i'm from southeast michigan as well. saying that you live on 10-mile just says that you live in the suburbs, and two miles farther into the burbs than eight mile, which really isn't nearly as bad as seven mile, if you want to get picky. i know plenty of people from warren, mi, who display none of the characteristics that your buddy says you can't escape if you live there.
of course it was staged- why was em mic'ed, and why was there a full camera crew waiting to tape his exit?
obviously, at least part of it was planned because em was mic'ed and there was a camera crew waiting for his departure.
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Really appreciate your comments, but I didn't write the piece (save for the intro). Our editor Josh Glazer did. Just to clarify.
Good point. If someone was falling from high above you after what you believed was a real equipment failure, would you just sit there waiting for him to land on your face?
Don't think so: You'd jump, get a bit out of the way, and try to break his fall. After all, in an equipment failure, you would most likely be fearful that, one thing having gone wrong, the rope might give away altogether.
OK, I don't think I fit the M.M. profile, but if was the victim of a clearly staged prank Bruno tea baggin on national television, I might be embarrassed enough to want to leave the room also. Who wouldn't?
i want to know how he landed so perfectly on Em!!
Mr. Mathers had a mic on --------
Well, I have to say I believe your post too. Not just because I don't think he's that good an actor but I look at the facts. I don't see how Bruno's ugly butt in your face is so hip-hop and helps him sell CDs - sorry. I realize that a lot of his fans here are offended by this because it shows their hero to be a buffoon and not the likable buggin' out type like Humpty Hump or Ed Lover. Those people will never be convinced of anything but his status as LEGEND, next to Justin Timberlake, of course.
As an artist, Marshall is a hip-hop oddity. I would put him in the same region as a Luke Skywalker, kiddy foul mouth rap. When you look at some true hip-hop pioneers like Dj Quik, Scarface from the Geto Boys, Ice-T, the most obvious - Beasties, others; they all spent their early days talkin dirty about b's, money and "toilet" stuff. But their music changed as they got older. They didn't hang on one note like Luke did and Mr. Mathers (Not Beaver) has. Maybe it's just personal taste but I never found him very entertaining or controversial. I mean, I was dancing to "Hey, We Want Some P..." at 14, so cut me some slack. Do I hate white rappers? Replay that N2Deep and pour me some purple chongo. YBT?Gettin silly... "Tap a Bottle" whydon'tcha? I'm out, SBC is a sick genius.
why does it have to be about selling cds? maybe he just thought it would be funny.
Eminem and Bruno: two completely talentless hacks desperate for any attention. They deserve each other. Whether it was completely planned or an attempt at punking or pawning or whatever, it happened during a show for the talentless to celebrate their non-achievements. Publicity for publicity's sake. It might as well have happened to Pauly Shore and Dane Cook for all the combined star power.
Move along, nothing to see here.
The songs described at the beginning of the article sounded very interesting. Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta
wow. what is this article all about? guilt by association? regional profiling?
it's certainly not enlightening in any way about an iconic personality, and bona fide genius, whom the author is dismissing, ironically, as 'unlikable' and prejudiced, without ever having met him.
so, there are a lot of a**holes in michigan. sorry to hear that. but there's a only one eminem. and there's a good reason for that.
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Oh, man, I could give a flying frak about the MTV movie awards -- can't remember the last time I even watched MTV -- but that clip is hysterical!
Cohen is brilliant and ballsy. I've got a lot of his Brit TV stuff, the Christmas stuff is hysterical, and I've run Bruno clips on my site a couple years ago so I'm just fascinated to see how this movie plays with the mainstream.
Maybe Em was only partially informed and felt that the gag went farther than he was told. This would explain the tantrum.
Then again, I have no idea.
correctomundo, rini ..........
Josh Glazer may think he, "knows" Marshall Mathers, but I think he's not looking deeply enough & relying on assumptions instead.
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There was virtually no way to pull that stunt off without all parties knowing it was going to happen and cooperate.
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