Eminem has made headlines after a Reddit user leaked audio allegedly of Slim Shady dropping a bar that seems to support Chris Brown, 30, following his violent 2009 assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna, 31. In it, the person who the Reddit user identifies as Eminem, rhymes, “Of course I side with Chris Brown, I’d beat down a b*tch too.” The audio was leaked on the r/Eminem subreddit on Nov. 3 and was still up the following day. The leaked audio appears to be an unreleased version of what ended up becoming B.o.B.’s 2011 song, titled “Things Get Worse.” On the released version, Em rapped about having Angelina Jolie perform oral sex on him and called a then 16-year-old Dakota Fanning a “whore” and made references to murdering her. But the line about Chris Brown never made it on that version. Now, the clip of the leaked song is making the rounds on Twitter, where fans are furious.
Rihanna and Em — real name Marshall Mathers — went on to become close friends after working together on 2010’s worldwide smash “Love the Way You Lie” and 2013’s “The Monster.” She would go on to tell Vanity Fair in a 2015 interview that, “He’s one of my favorite people. He’s got so many layers and he’s such a good person—focused, disciplined.”
She continued, “I mean you can’t tell me that you have to be in the club when Eminem is legit at home and being a good father and is still one of the most prestigious rappers of our generation. He’s one of the most talented poets of our time. It was such a brilliant moment to have him ask me to be part of a record; I felt … anointed, because he thought I was cool enough to be on [“Love the Way You Lie”]. But also, the lyrics [about a dysfunctional relationship] were just so true to what I felt and couldn’t say to the world at that time.” So far neither Eminem or Rihanna has reacted to the possibly illegally obtained snippet.
On Twitter, user Bryan wrote, “She basically gave him two No. 1 hits and helped keep him relevant. Rihanna is unbothered, but this is another item on Eminem’s long, long list of problematic verses and quotes (against women).” Fan RiRiReady tweeted, “eminem grown ass really glorifying rihanna abuse for a damn song after my fav lend her vocals to numerous songs for him is disgusting.”
https://twitter.com/ririreaddy/status/1191139074779893760
Eminem is I r r e l e v a n t. Abusers can fucking die in a ditch.
Rihanna is a queen 🙏. https://t.co/DwvOW6rT0w
— ✨deprussy✨ (@TerryDieHeiden) November 4, 2019
Chris pled guilty in June of 2009 for his Grammy Awards-eve Feb. 8 assault on Rihanna when they were seated in a car after leaving a party. He was sentenced to five years probation and 180 days in jail or the equivalent — about 1,400 hours — in “labor-oriented service.”