Nobody Asked for Eminem's Surprise Oscars Performance
The rapper performed his hit "Lose Yourself," which won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2003.
Considering what many considered to be an overwhelmingly white and male nominee pool, the 92nd Annual Academy Awards ended up being...not that bad?
Korean thriller Parasite made history by becoming the first foreign language film to take home an Oscar for Best Picture, and its director Bong Joon Ho was adorable on numerous occasions. Joaquin Phoenix, after being named Best Lead Actor, continued his streak of spicy acceptance speeches with a condemnation of the animal agriculture industry. Janelle Monáe's opening number saluted snubbed films like Us and Midsommar. Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph were, well, just as funny as you'd expect.
But there was one appearance at the Oscars that had many attendees and viewers perplexed. At the end of a montage celebrating iconic songs made famous by movies, clips of 8 Mile were projected on the screen as the instantly recognizable chug of "Lose Yourself" played along. And then—for reasons widely unbeknownst to the audience—Eminem himself appeared onstage to perform the 2002 No. 1 hit.
While some audience members in the Dolby Theatre happily rapped along, many seemed dumbfounded by Eminem's seemingly random appearance.
"Lose Yourself" became the first rap number to win the Oscar for Best Original Song back in 2003, but Eminem didn't attend that year because he didn't think he had a chance of winning. Although the reason for his delayed appearance is unclear, it seems Eminem just figured he was better late than never: "Look, if you had another shot, another opportunity... Thanks for having me @TheAcademy," he tweeted. "Sorry it took me 18 years to get here."
We're glad Slim Shady finally got his second shot, but why 18 years late? At this point, it feels like a pathetic and haphazard promotion of his eleventh studio album, Music to Be Murdered By, which received backlash for its audacious reference to the bombing at Ariana Grande's 2017 Manchester concert. A clip of old audio also recently resurfaced in which Eminem claimed he'd "side with Chris Brown" on the issue of Brown's infamous assault of Rihanna. Why are we continuing to bait Eminem's constant hunger for relevancy?
These audience reactions say it best:
- Don't Stop the Music: All of Rihanna's 125 Songs, Ranked From ... ›
- The 20 Richest Musicians of All Time - Popdust ›
- Oscars 2020: Eminem 'Lose Yourself' performance shocks, confuses ›
- Eminem surprises 2020 Oscars with 'Lose Yourself' performance from ›
- Oscars: Eminem Gives Surprise Performance of '8 Mile' Song "Lose ... ›
- Eminem's Career Hits Dead-End with 'Lose Yourself' Oscars ... ›
- Watch Hollywood React to Eminem's Live Oscars Performance, in ... ›
- Celebrity Reactions to Eminem's 2020 Oscars Performance of 'Lose ... ›
- Rapper Eminem shocks Oscars with performance 17 years late ... ›
- Oscars 2020 recap: 'Parasite' breaks barriers with best picture win ... ›