Eminem is a well-known personality in the music world who is almost always shrouded with controversy. Time and again, the Slim Shady rapper was accused of being a homophobe, but Sir Elton Johns has a different opinion. The Rolling Stones member came out as gay in 1992 and had proof to support his claim that the rapper was accused wrongly. Keep scrolling for more.
The Slim Shady rapper’s original name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III. Marshall and John’s friendship began in 2001 when they performed at the 2001 Grammys. Back then, the rapper was condemned for his alleged homophobic lyrics, with The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) striking against him outside The Staples Centre. The Grammys were taking place there.
In one of his appearances on The Graham Norton Show, Sir Elton John once spoke about his friendship with Eminem and how he supported him when people accused the rapper of being a homophobe. John said, “He was accused of being homophobic by so many people because of his lyrics, which I thought was nonsense. I came out and supported the fact that he isn’t [homophobic], and I appeared on the Grammys with him, doing ‘Stan’”.
Sir Elton John added, “We became friends. We’ve been amazing friends ever since. He’s an amazing guy. I interviewed him last week for a magazine.” The veteran musician then revealed Eminem gifted him an expensive adult toy. Elton recalled, “I just adore him… When David [Furnish] and I did our civil partnership, I got this package from Eminem. It shows you how homophobic he isn’t! It had two diamond-encrusted c*ck rings on velvet cushions. I have to say, they have remained unused!”
Check out Sir Elton John sharing the incident here:
Eminem’s songs were alleged to be homophobic because of his use of the F-word and ‘queer’ in many of his creations. In an interview with Anderson Cooper, he once broke silence on the controversy. Reacting to the news, he said, “Yeah, this scene I came up in. That word was thrown around so much, you know, “fa**ot” was like thrown around constantly to each other, like in battling. No, I don’t have any problem with nobody. You know what I mean? I’m just like, whatever.”
He reportedly supported the LGBTQ+ community and even fought for gay rights and more.
