Eminem. Let's talk.
I'm going to be really transparent—I don't listen to much rap music. Not my thing. I tend to like overly emotional indie rock bands, but you know, I say to-MAY-toe, you say homophobic slurs. And since we're talking about homophobic slurs, let's talk about this strange tango you're doing with being respectful and using homophobic slurs under the guise that it's beneficial to your music.
I read headlines on Friday about how you were backtracking on lyrics you had made on your newest album, Kamikaze. I believe the line in question was, "Tyler create nothin’, I see why you called yourself a f****t, bitch." Ah, how did Carole King not beat you to that lyric already? I tuned in because of the apology. In an interview with Sway, you say:
“I think the word that I called him on that song was one of the things where I felt like this might be too far. Because in my quest to hurt him, I realize that I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it. … It was one of the things that I kept going back to and going ‘I don’t feel right with this.’”
Do I believe that? Not really. If there's one staple of growing up in the ‘90s, it's watching you pull out an offensive phrase and then backpedal it in some grandiose gesture. Here's where you did it with Elton John because if you have a gay friend, then you have a rainbow license to the world.
That flew like a lead balloon, didn't it? But in this world where we're all ready to pounce on someone for a bad move, I'm totally open to a genuine apology. I was ready to ride it out. "Hope for the best," my mom often says. But literally the next day, you released "KILLSHOT," a diss track directed toward—I mean, who cares? It was adorned with the following lyrics.
You would suck a dick to fuckin' be me for a second
Lick a ballsack to get on my channel
Classic. I'm not going to explain why that's still a problem. Let's just cut to the chase. The best thing that's happened to our country in the past two years is the clarity in recognizing people’s intentions. Our world shifted post-election when a major candidate for the presidency made it okay to be openly awful. So, let’s just lay our hands on the table—if you’re bold enough to use the word f****t, be bold enough to stand in the light so we can all see how it makes you look. I'm not going full liberal, millennial snowflake here. I've been on the other side of those words—I know what the intention is. Drop the word f****t all you want. It illuminates who you are.
Just don’t be so ignorant to believe that your fanbase isn't smart enough to put two and two together. If you're going to use f****t in a song or imply that sucking a dick makes you less of a person, you're not interested in whether or not you're "hurting a lot of other people." If you were, you'd consider it before you threw it in a song. Hell, we know you're talented. Maybe that's the let down, you're clearly capable of being more original than that, right?
At this point, no one is asking you to be a martyr for the LGBT community. No one's even asking you to be an ally. The only thing I'd ask at this point is that you call a spade a spade because when you act like a parking garage hero, dropping lines about Trump and the resistance, it's an insult to everyone's intelligence. This time, your words speak louder than your actions. Just be willing to own it.
Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today.
