Eminem has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, who apparently won't stop rapping Slim Shady's lyrics on the campaign trail.
In a letter obtained by the Daily Mail U.K., a representative of BMI informed the campaign's lawyer that the label 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... and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem works."
The letter arrived 11 days after Ramaswamy performed Eminem's Grammy-winning single "Lose Yourself" at the Iowa State Fair for a crowd gathered in support of Iowa's Republican governor, Kim Reynolds.
Eminem joins a long list of artists who've objected to Republicans' use of their music for their political agendas. In 2020 the family of Tom Petty denounced Donald Trump's use of the song "I Won't Back Down" at political rallies. More recently, Dr. Dre went after Republican congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene for using "Still D.R.E." in one of her videos. She was temporarily banned from the platform formerly known as Twitter as a result.
No word on Ramaswamy's response, but we imagine he won't be rapping "White America" anytime soon—at least if he's smart. Anyone familiar with Eminem's battle rap days certainly wouldn't want that smoke.
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