Aftermath Records
Eminem’s ‘Rap God’ has been criticized over blatantly homophobic lyrics.
Eminem continues to get a bad rap over the controversial lyrics in his new single, “Rap God,” that critics branded as homophobic.
“When he invited me on his radio station a few years ago, I thought he put all of this aside,” said openly gay hip-hop singer Solomon in a statement.
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LastoTV via YouTube
LastO, pictured in a video for ‘Jack Frost’ freestyle, is among the openly gay performers to slam Eminem for his lyrics on ‘Rap God.’
“Granted, it’s not directed towards the gay community, but subconsciously it is. He’s using the word f-ggot to degrade another man. As if the worst thing a man can be is gay. What type of message does that embed into the minds of young kids, both gay and straight?”
Soloman’s SolRay Records labelmate LastO, who is also openly gay, added: “He’s a lil’ too old to be using gay and f-g and sh– as an insult; playground s—.”
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‘F-g? Is this really recovery talk or are you running your own program these days?’ Boy George tweeted at Eminem last week. ‘Really unhelpful.’
At the heart of the controversy are lines like: “Little gay-looking boy/So gay I can barely say it with a straight face-looking boy.” There are also more explicit slurs peppered over the six-minute track.
Eminem had seemed to rebound from the backlash over his 2000 song, “Criminal,” which was condemend by GLAAD at the time. In 2001, he had a high-profile duet with the openly gay Elton John at the Grammy Awards, and nine years later, he sat down for a frank interview on the subject with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
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Last week, Boy George added to the outrage over “Rap God.”
“I haven’t heard the record, I just object to the term, ‘f-g,” the former Culture Club frontman tweeted.