Eminem offended a lot of listeners on Friday with his new lyrics about the Manchester bombing terrorist attack. Several prominent voices — including family members of the victims — have denounced the 47-year-old rapper. They are saying that Eminem should no longer get a free pass for his shock-value words.
Eminem released a surprise album on Friday titled Music to be Murdered By. Among its new songs was “Unaccommodating,” a high-energy track with featured artist Young M.A. In it, Eminem disparaged just about everyone else in the music industry, while comparing himself to a force of nature, the devil and — perhaps most bizarrely — to some infamous terrorists.
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“But I’m contemplating yelling ‘bombs away’ on the game / like I’m outside of an Ariana Grande concert, waiting,” he rapped. “They call me Saddam Hussein, Ayatollah Khomeini / Where’s Osama been? I been Laden lately.”
The verse referenced the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, where a suicide bomber attacked an Ariana Grande concert, killing 23 people including himself. Naturally, survivors of the attack and family members of those who passed away were outraged.
“I am disgusted how did he or his team think this was okay?” one person tweeted. “He’s trash.”
“This is so messed up! Many people (mostly children) were injured at this concert and some even lost their lives, and he thinks it’s okay to put this lyric in a song? @Eminem mayeb try and have a little respect, and don’t use a terrorist a ttack to gain clout,” added another.
Eminem is trash, I think that the Manchester reference is so unnecessary, it’s insensitive and very disrespectful to the families of the tragedy, some may think I’m being sensitive, but of all the things he could’ve talked about, he chose that. #EminemIsOverParty
— 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓮𝓻 💫 (@marcuskawa_) January 17, 2020
Some people online took an even more cynical view, suggesting that Eminem had counted on outrage over these lyrics to fuel record sales. At least one family member of a victim declined to comment on the new song, saying it would only perpetuate a painful, sensationalized conversation.
“Please stop asking what I think of Eminem’s lazy verse about the arena. It exists so he can sell records to edgelords with poor taste in hip hop, and you can write stories for pearl-clutching readers,” one such person wrote. “He’s Ricky Gervais in a baseball cap. Cheers.”
Others pointed out the strange hypocrisy of Eminem’s words, considering his own stance on gun violence. The rapper has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the string of mass shootings in the country, and has led followers in mass donations to organizations like the Red Cross.
Eminem’s newest music video takes this message even further. It depicts a mass shooting at a concert, apparently modeled after the 2017 shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas, which killed 58 people. The video ends with a call to action.
“When will this end? When enough people care,” reads plain text on the screen. “Register to vote at vote.gov. Make your voice heard and help change gun laws in America.”
