SHILL SHADY: A triggered Eminem demands Vivek Ramaswamy stop performing his music

During this year's Iowa State Fair, tech entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wowed the crowd with an impromptu performance of Eminem's Lose Yourself. Not everybody was impressed, however, including the Rap God himself.

Marshall Mathers has since sent a cease and desist letter to Ramaswamy via music licenser Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI), demanding that he refrain from performing his music on the campaign trail.

According to the Daily Mail, on August 23 representatives from BMI told the GOP contender's lawyers that the company had "received communications from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign's use of Eminem's musical compositions (the 'Eminem Works') and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem Works from the Agreement."

BMI went on to state that it "will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto."

The GOP candidate responded to Mathers on X, using lyrics from his songs.

"Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?"

Ramaswamy's rendition of Lose Yourself came during his fair-side chat with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, an event in which every candidate except Donald Trump partook. When Reynolds asked him what he wanted as his walkout song, Ramaswamy named the Eminem tune, but instead of simply sauntering on stage, he took the microphone and belted out the lyrics.

It was soon revealed that Ramaswamy had long been a fan of rap music, and Eminem in particular. In an interview with the New York Times, he said that although he could not resonate with the backgrounds of many hip-hop artists, he nonetheless identified with certain aspects of the genre.
 

"I did not grow up in the circumstances he did," Ramaswamy said of Eminem, "but the idea of being an underdog, people having low expectations of you, that part speaks to me."