Eminem's glaring homophobia

by **yoda you can call me** » Dec 6th, '13, 01:28

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-12-05-emin ... homophobia
As the news of American rapper Eminem's February/March 2014 tour of South Africa spread through media outlets recently, press releases rushed to list the artist's successes, but made no mention of renewed accusations of homophobia following the release of his latest album.

This is a glaring omission in a country where homophobia continues to be a heated issue.

Across South Africa's media, mention was made of the rapper's 13 Grammy and Oscar wins, and of the 80-million albums and 120-million singles he has sold. Eminem's eighth solo album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was released on November 5 and debuted on the United States charts with the second-largest opening sales of the year so far, going to the top of the weekly Billboard 200 music chart on November 13. But the album has been hitting headlines of a different kind abroad for its lyrics.

The single Rap God has the words: "I'll still be able to break a motherfuckin' table/ Over the back of a couple of faggots and crack it in half." And: "Little gay-looking boy/ So gay I can barely say it with a straight face-looking boy …" And so on.

Homosexuality is still illegal in 38 out of 54 African countries. South Africa stands out as the only African country where gay marriage is legal. But homophobia is still widespread here. In 2006, before he became president, Jacob Zuma said that same-sex marriage was "a disgrace to the nation and to God". He has since made more encouraging statements on the subject. In 2012, for instance, he said that we are "building a nation that does not discriminate against other people because of their colour or sexual orientation".

Zuma's 2006 comments on gay marriage pale in comparison with the lyrics of Eminem's song The Real Slim Shady on his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP: "But if we can hump dead animals and antelopes/ Then there's no reason that a man and another man can't elope/ [Ewwww!] But if you feel like I feel, I got the antidote/ Women wave your pantyhose, sing the chorus and it goes …" Many did not feel as he did.

Although the performer won a Grammy Award for that album, he faced protests at the awards ceremony on February 21 2001 – where, bizarrely, he performed a duet with Sir Elton John. An activist group, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, decried Eminem's anti-gay lyrics and condemned the openly gay John's willingness to perform with him.

In a Rolling Stone magazine cover article, published on November 22 this year, Eminem answers accusations of homophobia in Rap God thus: "I don't know how to say this without saying it how I've said it a million times, but that word [faggot], those kind of words, when I came up battle-rappin' or whatever, I never really equated those words [with homosexuals] … It was more like calling someone a bitch or a punk or asshole. That word was just thrown around so freely back then."

The word is always offensive to gay people, so why would it be okay to use it in a rap context, even if spoken by an alter ego? Rappers and the hip-hop genre in general have long been accused of homophobia, but opinions are changing: one of the genre's successes in the past year or so has been the song Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, which promotes gay marriage and acceptance. Jay-Z and Kanye West, among others, are on record as supporting gay marriage and gay rights in the US.

Eminem seems intent on being the last homophobe in hip-hop.

And using the word "faggot" to mean "bitch or punk or asshole" is not okay, because even if the word was not already charged, it would be wrong to conjure negative associations with being gay. There is already a worrying trend in popular culture to use "gay" as a negative descriptor. For example: "That's so gay!", meaning "That's uncool", was recently used in the soap opera Isidingo.

In a recent report highlighting homophobia in Africa, Amnesty International said that at least seven people, five of them lesbians, were murdered in South Africa between June and November 2012 in what is thought to be violence related to their sexual orientation or gender identity. South African gay rights organisation Triangle deals with many cases of so-called "corrective rape" every week.

We should address existing homophobia in South Africa, instead of promoting the homophobic ideas brought by visiting artists.

Eamon Allan is a freelance journalist.

by **CanadaPure** » Dec 6th, '13, 01:38

Eminem killed Nelson Mandela.

by **shadyblogger** » Dec 6th, '13, 01:39

InsaneTRex94 wrote:So Nelson Mandela dies and they're still talking about Eminem's "homophobia"?

k.

by **Trimss** » Dec 6th, '13, 01:40

Black people have big dicks and they take our girls and our jobs. And it's Eminem's fault.

by **Kill You** » Dec 6th, '13, 02:38

CanadaPure wrote:Eminem killed Nelson Mandela.

Died of shock from Em's homophobic slurs.

by **Hopsinshadie** » Dec 6th, '13, 02:40

Remember. Where Em came from the F word just means coward. It has nothing to do with what your sexual preference is.

by **Crazee** » Dec 6th, '13, 02:42

Jay-Z and Kanye West, among others, are on record as supporting gay marriage and gay rights in the US.

Eminem seems intent on being the last homophobe in hip-hop.

If supporting gay marriage, in and of itself, means you're not a homophobe than Eminem isn't a homophobe because he supports gay marriage.

I'm sure Kanye and Jay-Z have said faggot before, so I'm not sure what the big deal with Eminem is. This is worse than when Roy Hibbert was treated as some kind of bigot for saying "no homo".

by **EminemInsider** » Dec 6th, '13, 04:00

George Carlin and Louis CK were also homophobes by the "context doesn't matter" standard.

Someone really should inform these poor, clueless idiots that well over 90% of rap lyrics are tongue-in-cheek.

And what's this "alarming trend" the author speaks of? The *insert negative thing here* is "gay" thing was a 90s phenomenon. It's not en vogue, and hasn't been for some time.

by **yoda you can call me** » Dec 6th, '13, 04:21

These people need to stop getting butthurt over words..The word gay used to mean happy and caefree before homosexuals stole it. ha.

by **bcooper21** » Dec 6th, '13, 04:26

He never really said "i support gay marrgie" to be fair hes always danced around it saying yeah people can do w/e they want.

by **Crazee** » Dec 6th, '13, 04:40

Didn't Em do that interview in the NT supporting it? Off to Google...

Yep. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-new ... ge-2010176

lol And again, they didn't actually listen to Recovery or they would have heard homophobic slurs on there too. It's alright if you think he shouldn't say the word faggot, but that's different than accusing him of hatred.

This whole Inquisition against anyone who says anything about homosexuality is tired and annoying at this point. Get a life.

by **shadyblogger** » Dec 6th, '13, 05:47

People are so sensitive these days

by **EminemBase** » Dec 6th, '13, 08:34

Oh wow. Cringing.

by **Iris2** » Dec 6th, '13, 08:49

Eminem is so corny when he says the 'F-WORD' and stuff. Why is he still doing that? It's not like being homophobic is trendy anymore.

by **EminemBase** » Dec 6th, '13, 08:58

Iris2 wrote:Eminem is so corny when he says the 'F-WORD' and stuff. Why is he still doing that? It's not like being homophobic is trendy anymore.

Troll denied btw.

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