As Eminem relaxes into his mellow middle period, the rapper has spoken out in favour of gay marriage. “Everyone should have the chance to be equally miserable,” he said in a recent interview, offering similar pessimism on touring, poetry and his dear old mum.
“I think I’ve calmed down a bit,” Eminem told the New York Times Magazine, in an article to be published on Sunday. “My overall look on things is a lot more mature than it used to be.” Case in point is his record on homosexuality. Look back to 2000, when the Marshall Mathers LP included the following lyric: “Hate fags? The answer’s ‘yes’.” While lines like this attracted the protests of gay rights groups, Eminem continued to court both sides of the controversy – kissing Elton John at the 2001 Grammy awards, then returning to spitting gay slurs on 2002’s Without Me. More recently, he seems to have shown greater – yes – maturity on this issue, promising to leave out homophobic lyrics at UK shows, and now defending gay marriage. “I think if two people love each other, then what the hell?” he said. “I think that everyone should have the chance to be equally miserable, if they want.”
Unfortunately, Eminem’s relationship with his mother has not seen the same positive outlook. The rapper said he’s “not sure” where she is living. Debbie Mathers-Nelson unsuccessfully sued her son for defamation in 1999. “It’d be very hard to repair that relationship,” he explained. Eminem is taking strength in his three daughters, and investing as much of his money as he can. “I save a lot of money by not buying drugs any more.”
His previous drugs use is the reason why Eminem is not gigging much. “Touring is hard on the body,” he said. “It used to be a big trigger for me.” He has no wish to return to rehab – a place, he says, where he ends up feeling “like Bugs Bunny”. “When Bugs Bunny walks into rehab, people are going to turn and look,” he explained. “People at rehab were stealing my hats and pens and notebooks and asking for autographs. I couldn’t concentrate on my problem.”
Clean, “tolerant”, and promoting a new album, Eminem seems poised to enjoy the zenith of his career. But don’t ask him to quote TS Eliot, Robert Frost or Allen Ginsberg. “I don’t think I’ve ever read poetry,” he said. “I’m not really book-smart.”
