With Eminem, you either love or hate him, primarily if you identify as a member or ally of the queer community. Despite his alleged support for same-sex marriage, the rapper has long used homophobic slurs in his music. Today, much evidence still suggests that the hypermasculine rapper may be anti-gay.
RELATED: Does Homophobic Rapper Eminen Have A Gay Sex Tape?
Why Do Fans Think Eminem Is Homophobic?
Eminem has faced criticism for his obsession with heteronormativity and offensive lyrics. Here are just a few instances that prove he may be homophobic.
Anti-Gay Sentiment In His Lyrics
Eminem’s first homophobic controversy occurred in 2000 when he released the song “Criminal” as part of The Marshall Mathers LP. Its lyrics read, “My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge / That’ll stab you in the head whether you’re a f*g or l*s / Hate f**s? / The answer’s yes.”
“Criminal” is not the only Eminem song with similar slurs. In an interview with Anderson Cooper, the rapper claimed that his use of the slur was not used in an anti-gay context. Instead, he excused its use by saying it was “thrown around constantly” in rap battles.
Still, many have called out Eminem for being selective with the offensive words he incorporates into his music. For instance, as a white rapper, Eminem has never used the n-word in his music, making his generous use of the f-word even more confusing.
Today, Eminem claims that everything he says is “tongue-in-cheek” and that there is nothing he can do to change people’s minds about him.
Using The F-Slur In A Diss Track About Tyler The Creator
In 2018, Eminem released the diss track “Fall” against fellow rapper Tyler the Creator. In his attempt to dismantle the Flower Boy artist, Eminem raps, “Tyler create nothin’ / I see why you call yourself a f****t, b***h.”
Eminem later expressed regret over his homophobic diss, claiming that he might’ve gone too far. He admitted that in his attempt to hurt the LGBT artist, he realized he was hurting many people by incorporating the slur into his lyrics.
However, not many fans took the apology seriously. Eminem later released the single “KILLSHOT,” another diss track that included the lyrics “You would suck a d**k to be f*****g me for a second.”
Glorification Of Abuse And Violence
For years, Eminem has rapped about mistreating, raping, and torturing women. While he claims they are not to be taken literally, many fans have done the opposite, even committing sex crimes and demonstrating discriminatory behavior against women and members of the LGBT community.
Even more chillingly, in the song “Kim,” Eminem raps about murdering his wife and subsequently stuffing her body into the trunk of a car. In another song, “Drips,” he raps angrily about catching sexually transmitted diseases from “h*s.”
Eminem’s apparent disdain towards women and anything feminine puts female-identifying members of the LGBT community in a vulnerable position, exposing them to further harassment and violence.
Justifying His Statements
Eminem is no stranger to having to justify his words on numerous occasions. However, despite having a platform to correct himself, the rapper seems to have only ever made things worse.
When questioned about his use of the f-slur, Eminem justified his actions by declaring that he wasn’t referring to gay people. Instead, he attributed the f-word as “the lowest degrading thing you can say to a man. F****t to me just means taking away your manhood.”
Of course, Eminem is referring to straight men, suggesting that gay men are already emasculated.
Eminem In The Tiktok Era
Eminem’s latest release to have garnered flak is “Tone Deaf,” whose lyrics include, “I won’t stop even when my hair turns grey (I’m tone deaf) / Cause they won’t stop until they cancel me.”
Since 2010, Eminem has been the center of many Gen Z-led discussions after TikTok users argued that “Love the Way You Lie” glorified domestic abuse and toxic relationships.
Final Thoughts
Despite his supposed growth as a person, Eminem hasn’t shown actual signs of remorse for his misogynistic and homophobic work. The rapper continues to broadcast the same prejudices, probably because they garner the shock value he intends to create when people listen to his music.
Since threatening to assault Pamela Anderson in The Slim Shady LP, Eminem hasn’t demonstrated any signs of being capable of becoming an ally, much less leave out any homophobic language from his lyrics. Ultimately, the answer to the question “Does Eminem support LGBTQ communities?” is probably no.
RELATED: Eminem Wonders What If I Was Gay?
dario717
Is he homophobic? I don’t know. Like any other “artist” of the early 2000’s, he was probably forbidden from deviating from singing and saying and doing exactly what the record execs told him to. If he’s not, then he chose fame over people. If he is, same thing.
Donston
Whether it was a label pushed persona or not (or whether it was internalized phobias and certain insecurities as some have theorized), it was a persona that was aggressively misogynistic and male homophobic. He spent years literally monetizing making fun of “gays” and creating violent fantasies about women. While he’s used gay panic and homo-shaming for self-promotion in recent years as well. This idea that he was supposedly cool with a gay-presenting co-worker from years ago and performing with Elton John makes up for all of that is silly. He just realized that his persona was no longer helpful to his career and image. However, Eminem and all his mess is old ass pop culture news.
bjm123
Keep giving him passes..
sam83
Got to love this site…If one of our greatest allies like Madonna doesn’t acknowledge a D list celeb like Rufus Wainwright 20 years ago it gets an article and 60+ comments from bitchy and ungrateful queens dragging her. And here we have an article about Eminem who hasn’t don’t anything for us besides spew misogyny and homophobic and crickets.
monty clift
19 comments, and there was more criticism for Rufus for being a drama queen than there was for Madge for being Madge.
Mario
I think most rappers are privately homophobic. They just say publicly the politically correct things so that they’re not cancelled by the woke crowd or boycotted.
Bosch
I think most rappers are on the down-low, and they present and perpetuate homophobia as to not piss off their fanbase of angry, insecure teenagers.
WillParkinson
Well, Elton John says no, so….
Neoprene
Love Eminem! Stop being heterophobic!
monty clift
“heterophobic” LOL
Donston
He has a handful of songs where he imagines doing violent things towards women, a handful of songs where he uses male homophobic language, a couple of music videos that have gay jokes, he went on a couple of homophobic rants on stage back in the day, and just a few years ago he used homophobic language to attack Tyler The Creator.
You can still have a hard-on for him. You can still fantasize about him. You can still like his music. But let’s not be delusional. He helped contribute to and fed off of male homophobia, gay shaming and misogyny for years. But as I said, it’s rather old pop culture news.
Neoprene
Tyler the Creator Sawks.
Raphael
The real question is: “Is he still relevant to the point where we care about it either way?” I don’t think so!
inbama
I just wish Ethel Merman were alive to make a rap album that does for rap what her disco album did to disco.
Rambeaux
How right you are.
He was a gay-baiting jerk when he was young and made his millions.
Now he an almost 50 year old and wears a stocking cap, to hide his wrinkles, pulled so low that he looks like a set of singing eyeballs.
Hang it up, Marshall.
Bosch
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Jack Meoff
He’s looking like some kind of washed-up shady criminal these days. Let him just fade away back to the trailer park.
Jim
Of course he’s homophobic.
Why is this a question.
Other then the fact that his homophobia is over the top and one has to wonder why?
Reasonable Riley
Never understood why this seems to matter so much, perhaps a story explaining that instead of rehashing the same question from 20+ years ago?
Boo Radley
I don’t know whether or not Eminem is homophobic. What I DO know is that his angry white rapper shtick is, and always has been, BORING.
LumpyPillows
Rap sucks, we can start there. Homophobic? Probably not. Relevant? Not really. Don’t we have bigger issues?
Charlie in Charge
Yes, yes he’s homophobic. If you think that the worst imaginable thing you can call a man is gay then you are homophobic.
bachy
I used to beat off watching Eminem’s “Without Me” video. That’s the one where he dresses up as Robin (of Batman and Robin) and thrusts his spandex crotch at the camera.
johncp56
Ditto
johncp56
Most old school Rap is homophobic and masegenestic, they are not all smart dudes
bachy
Yes, I always thought the appeal of rap was that it was an angry, essentially clueless, juvenile, testosterone-fueled rant about how everything sucks.
Slim Shady
I thought this LG however many letters community was all about people should be allowed to be who they are. So who the hell cares if he is it’s no one’s business but his own if he hates them or not.
splunky
Who the hell cares?! Well obviosly YOU care if you felt the need to make up a Queerty account just to post that comment.
scotty
when does he get his own flag?
RKthegay
I’ve been a fan since the beginning. His wordplay is unparalleled and it’s so over the top I’ve never understood how anyone could have taken it seriously. That’s the rap game in a nutshell, hyperbole.