Naturally, not everyone was pleased with everything the Michigan rapper had to say on the project. Some people were particularly offended by lyrics rapped on the track “Unaccommodating,” in which Eminem likened himself to Salman Ramadan Abedi, the man responsible for the Manchester Arena bombing that occurred following an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
“But I’m contemplating yelling ‘bombs away’ on the game / Like I’m outside of an Ariana Grande concert waiting,” Eminem rapped on the track.
It didn’t take long for listeners to lash out about the controversial lyrics online, and numbers of people bashed the 47-year-old rapper for mentioning the horrific incident in Manchester, England that resulted in the deaths of 22 people.
Eminem first mentioned the bombing in a 2018 freestyle battle, in which he rapped: “Squashed in between a brainwashing machine/Like an Islamic regime, a jihadist extreme radical/Suicide bomber that’s seeing/Ariana Grande sing her last song of the evening’ And as the audience from the damn concert is leaving/Detonates the device strapped to his abdominal region I’m not gonna finish that, for obvious reasons.”
Despite the backlash, Eminem fans were quick to defend him. Many of them pointed out the way the rapper actually helped victims and their families immediately following the bombing.
“For people mad at referencing the Ariana Grande concert bombing: these are merely lyrics. He raised $2 million for the victims, which is way more than you did. You were also probably laughing at WWIII jokes about bombing Iran..at least be consistent with what offends you,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
Others slammed Eminem’s naysayers for being hypocrites and noted how silent people were when the rapper referenced other tragedies like school shootings in his music.
“Eminem used the Ariana concert incident for a bar, everybody goes crazy. Eminem uses the Columbine incident for a bar in 2 separate songs, no reaction. What was the difference? Oh, your ‘idol’ was mentioned,” another Twitter user wrote.
Eminem was one of many celebrities to offer support to the city of Manchester following the bombing. He helped the British Red Cross raise nearly $2 million dollars to support the families of those killed or hurt by the incident. His efforts received approval from the Manchester City Council, who thanked Eminem publicly in a tweet in May 2017.
Although his latest line about the bombing ruffled feathers, Eminem–who has a notable history of calling attention to the horrors of society with unsettling lyrics–also used his new album to raise gun violence awareness. One of its tracks, “Darkness,” referenced the October 2017 Las Vegas shooting in which 59 people were killed and dozens more injured, after Stephen Paddock opened fire on concertgoers attending Route 91 Music Festival.
Eminem rapped about the tragedy from the shooter’s point of view while the accompanying video included visuals of a man firing rounds of bullets out of a window, similar to Paddock’s shooting from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. The video ended with a message advocating for gun reform.
“When will this end? When enough people care. Register to vote at Vote.gov. Make your voice heard and help change gun laws in America. For information on how you can help please visit eminem.com/darkness,” the message read.
See a few more reactions to Eminem’s song “Unaccommodating” below.
