Eminem is Lucky Bad Taste isn’t a Crime

By: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service (KRT)
Posted In: Opinion

The following editorial appeared in The Dallas Morning News on Friday, Dec. 12:

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Rapper Eminem is in hot water.

So what else is new?

The 29-year-old Grammy winner, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, sure has a knack for finding controversy. In the past, he’s been blasted for lyrics that seemed homophobic and to promote violence against women. Last month, the co-founders of a hip-hop magazine accused him of racism.

But Eminem’s latest scrape with the Secret Service tops his past attention-getting schemes. The agency was concerned about a bootleg recording of one of the rapper’s songs that’s now making the rounds on the Internet. We’ll omit the vulgarity and quote just this portion of the lyrics: “I don’t rap for dead presidents. I’d rather see the president dead.”

You see the problem. The lyric is irresponsible, offensive. It contributes to the coarsening of society and, many would argue, our cultural decay.

But is it a threat to national security?

Hardly. After a few days of looking into the matter, the Secret Service called off the investigation.

That was precisely the right thing to do. The agency’s resources are better spent elsewhere. Besides, it is important to keep things in perspective. There’s a big difference between bad taste and imminent danger.

Eminem is indeed a magnet for controversy. Perhaps the best way to demagnetize him is to diminish – rather than inflate – his importance.

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c 2003, The Dallas Morning News.