Eminem isn’t afraid to risk alienating fans if it means denouncing Donald Trump. The rapper formally threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night at a rally for the presidential candidate in his hometown of Detroit.
“As most of you know, the city of Detroit and the home state of Michigan mean a lot to me going into this election. The spotlight is on us more than ever, and I think it’s important to use your voice, so I’m encouraging everybody to get out and vote, please,” said the 52-year-old rapper.
Alluding to Trump, Eminem continued, “People shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinions, and I don’t think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution or what people will do if you make your opinion known.” He added, “I think Vice President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld.”
.@Eminem: I don’t think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution of what people will do if you make your opinion known. I think Vice President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld pic.twitter.com/tVVHO00ANn
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 23, 2024
The appearance likely didn’t come as a surprise to longtime Eminem fans. As noted by the Daily Beast, the “8 Mile” rapper, born Marshall Mathers III, has been public about his disdain for the former Republican president for years; most notably during a freestyle titled “The Storm” at the 2017 BET Awards, in which he disavowed their shared fans.
“And any fan of mine who’s a supporter of his / I’m drawing in the sand a line / you’re either for or against / and if you can’t decide who you like more and you’re split on who you should stand beside, I’ll do it for you with this. F— you,” rapped the musician, ending his screed with the rallying cry: “The rest of America stand up / We love our military, and we love our country / But we f—king hate Trump.”
As he subsequently told Billboard magazine, airing the controversial take was well worth speaking his personal truth about the 45th president of the United States.
“At the end of the day, if I did lose half my fan base, then so be it because I feel like I stood up for what was right, and I’m on the right side of this,” he said.
As noted by Forbes, Eminem’s appearance could prove effective for the campaign in its final weeks. While he has largely stayed out of the political fray, in 2020, he gave the Biden campaign permission to use his hit single “Lose Yourself” in an ad just prior to the election, personally imploring his online followers that they had “One opportunity… #Vote.” His appearance also comes just weeks after Trump insulted the city of Detroit during a campaign stop in the city, prompting ire within the battleground state.
Music legend Bruce Springsteen was also scheduled to appear at the Michigan rally on Tuesday night. Springsteen recently made headlines with a pointed television ad endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket in which he notably called Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime.”
