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Eminem has cleared up the confusion surrounding his surprise appearance at the Oscars last weekend.
The rap icon performed ‘Lose Yourself’ at Sunday’s ceremony, which won the Oscar for Best Original Song back in 2003 after it featured on the soundtrack to 8 Mile.
While the performance received immediate applause from the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, it also prompted confusion from viewers who pointed out that there is no looming anniversary for the track, or any special significance to warrant the performance.
Speaking to Variety, Eminem explained that the performance was his chance to seize the spotlight after previously turning down a performance at the 2003 ceremony.
“I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool,” he said.
“Back then, I never even thought that I had a chance to win, and we had just performed ‘Lose Yourself’ on the Grammys with The Roots a couple of weeks before the Oscars, so we didn’t think it was a good idea. And also, back at that time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me.”
He added: “But then when I found out I won, ‘That’s crazy!’ That to me shows how authentic and real that award is — when you don’t show up and you still win. That makes it very real to me.”
When asked if he was disappointed to miss his moment of glory in 2003, he replied: “I don’t know that I was disappointed, I was blown back by the fact that I won. I don’t even think I understood back then that you could get an Oscar for a song, and I remember being kinda confused about why I was even up for one, because as a kid with the Oscars, it was like a vacuum.”
He also dispelled rumours that he turned down the 2003 performance because he was asked to censor the performance.
Meanwhile, the Oscars were dominated by history-making wins for Parasite as it became the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture in Oscars history.
It also won the awards for Best Director (Bong Joon-ho), Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design and Best Film Editing.
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