Eminem's Super Bowl Kneel Infuriates Rudy Giuliani

By Michael Hein

It's no secret that rapper Eminem stirred controversy by kneeling during the Super Bowl halftime show, but he got a belated response from an unlikely critic this week: former New York City mayor and Trump administration lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani appeared on an NYC talk radio show this week where he dedicated plenty of airtime to the Super Bowl performance.

Giuliani has continued his fight against democracy since the 2020 presidential election by trying and failing to prove that his client former President Donald Trump won. He has even had his law license suspended in New York City and Washington D.C. for making "demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public." Giuliani was also subpoenaed last month to testify before Congress about the Jan. 6 2021 attack on the U.S. capitol. It was in the context of these controversies that he condemned Eminem and the Super Bowl organizers on Monday during a show on 77WABC.

"Why doesn't he go to another country?" Giuliani wondered about the rapper, who kneeled in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. "Go take a knee someplace else. You know how many cops were defending him and protecting him at that game yesterday? I mean, crime is way out of control in Los Angeles. He thinks that all happened because everybody loves Eminem?"

"The simple reality is that the NFL has made a mockery out of law enforcement, particularly with its support for the cop-killing Black Lives Matter," Giuliani continued. He then did a racist impression of Snoop Dogg before continuing: "What kind of country are we becoming? What kind of country do our elites want us to be when people are encouraging cop killing."

Giuliani got a response a few days later thanks to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The late-night show aired a parody of Eminem's song "Lose Yourself" with lyrics about Giuliani. It poked fun at his personal and professional life in great detail, including some of the biggest political scandals of the last few years and also Giuliani's marriage to his real-life cousin.

Giuliani is still due to testify before the House about the Jan. 6 insurrection, though the latest update from The New York Times casts doubt on the efficacy this testimony could have. He continues to host regular podcasts and radio shows where he is criticized for spreading political disinformation.

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