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Eminem set the Internet on fire when he returned to the spotlight during last week’s BET Awards. The living rap legend delivered a scathing freestyle that took down every aspect of President Donald Trump’s fragile ego and political fumbling. While some have fairly remarked on the flow’s structure (I see you, Vince Staples), leave it to FOX News, ever ones to blindly back a leader because of political cronyism, to take it about 20 steps further and get completely triggered.
Greg Gutfeld attempted to take Em to task for his bars during an episode of The Greg Gutfeld Show. While wearing perhaps the most obnoxious smirk this side of Martin Shkreli, Gutfeld made a series of tired white rapper jokes, comparing the multi-platinum Eminem to Insane Clown Posse and Vanilla Ice. He even tried to bring the MC down because of his age, saying that at 44 years old, it was time for him to “open up a chain of strip clubs-slash-carwashes” — you know, things that rappers are into.
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Of course, Gutfeld went out of his way to avoid talking about the actual context and meaning of the words Eminem was saying. At one point, he played a clip where Em calls out POTUS for focusing on NFL players instead of the Puerto Rican crisis or the Las Vegas massacre, implying that somehow the rapper is stupid for thinking American citizens devastated by natural disasters and gun violence is somehow more important than a peaceful protest. He also tried to call the bars “unoriginal” because other people share the same, completely justified opinion. When he tried to pull the same thing again with Em’s line about Trump’s orange skin tone, Gutfeld laughed at his own ignorance when he revealed he doesn’t know what a clementine is.
Gutfeld’s lapdogs panelist were no better, with Katherine Timpf (of Radiohead fame) making the most blatant and cheap applause appeal ever by just saying the word “Constitution” and Harper’s Magazine’s Walter Kirn bafflingly saying you can “either rhyme or be logical,” apparently throwing out centuries of poetry and hip-hop. Legal analyst Emily Compagno actually made a point worth discussing in regards to the content of some of Em’s past raps, but the nuance of art is apparently lost on the panel. Professional wrestler/political commentator Tyrus came the closest to having a reasonable discussion about what Eminem was actually saying, but even he fell back on the simple “he’s being as divisive as we are” fallacy.
Regardless, Tyrus nor Compagno’s points were never explored because Gutfeld had to move on to more tawdry “humor” and oddly race-baiting quips. You know, as someone working for a “real” news network like FOX is paid to do. Check out the segment above.