Republican presidential candidate and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy received a cease and desist letter from rapper Eminem, who is demanding that Ramaswamy stop performing his songs on the campaign trail.
Acting through his music’s license holder, BMI, Eminem informed Ramaswamy campaign lawyers that he is “…objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign’s use of [his] musical compositions (the “Eminem Works”) and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem Works from the Agreement.”
Ramaswamy, a 2024 candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, made a media splash when he performed Eminem’s hit song “Lose Yourself” during an event at the Iowa State Fair hosted by Governor Kim Reynolds.
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is no stranger to legal controversies over his nearly 30-year career. In June of 2000 the rapper was slapped with weapons charges after pulling an unloaded gun on an employee of the rival music group, Insane Clown Posse. In July of 2000 he was sued by his now ex-wife Kimberly ‘Kim’ Anne Scott for defamation after he graphically described her attempted suicide in the song entitled “Kim.”
The United States Secret Service has twice investigated Eminem for threatening Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump in his music. In 2016, the rapper released a free-style rap entitled “Campaign Speech” that was highly critical of Donald Trump and in 2020 he authorized the Biden campaign to use “Lose Yourself” – the same song performed by Ramaswamy in Iowa – in a campaign video.
Eminem was once known for railing against the establishment, and censoriousness. That, however, was twenty years and several hundred million dollars ago.
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