Eminem is trending again over his past comments about Donald Trump, but here is the thing — he has not said anything new. In fact, he has been calling out Trump for nearly a decade.
Eminem’s name is back in the headlines because some Trump supporters just discovered a 2017 clip of him leading a concert crowd in a “Fuck Trump” chant. And they think it happened just now.
No, Eminem did not just diss Trump. In fact, he has not addressed him directly in years. However, from 2016 to 2018, Marshall made his stance very clear. So, let us set the record straight and look at seven times Eminem called out Trump:
1. “Campaign Speech” (2016)
Before Trump even won the election, Eminem made his views clear on “Campaign Speech”, an eight-minute track where he took aim at Trump’s leadership style:
You say Trump don’t kiss ass like a puppet
’Cause he runs his campaign with his own cash for the fundin’
And that’s what you wanted
A fuckin’ loose cannon who’s blunt with his hand on the button.
2. “Trump’s a Bitch” on Big Sean’s “No Favors” (2017)
When Trump officially took office, Eminem did not hold back. On Big Sean’s “No Favors”, Em fired off one of his most direct insults:
Trump’s a bitch, I’ll make his whole brand go under.
3. Eminem Criticises Trump at Kamala Harris’ Rally (2024)
Even in 2024, Eminem made a rare political statement at Kamala Harris’ rally in Detroit, urging people to vote against Trump, without saying his name, though. He warned his hometown that a new administration might retaliate against those who oppose him:
I don’t think anyone wants to live in America, where people are worried about retribution of what people will do if you make your opinion known.
4. Leading “Fuck Trump” Chants at Concerts (2017)
While touring the UK in 2017, Eminem used his platform to denounce Trump multiple times publicly:
– In Glasgow, he wore a “Fack Trump” T-shirt and told the crowd:
Scotland, you might have to be our new home because right now, shit ain’t going so well in the States.
– At the Reading Festival, he addressed the audience before performing:
I don’t want to cause controversy, so I won’t say no names… but this motherfucker Donald Trump, I can’t stand.
– At the Leeds Festival, he repeated the chant with 90,000 fans.
5. “We’re Polar Opposites”: Billboard Interview (2018)
In a 2018 interview with Billboard, Eminem reflected on Trump’s presidency, saying he saw the warning signs early on:
I called it just from the rallies he was having when he first started running. Because just watching the impact he has, they were fanatics. There is something to be said about the person who really felt like he might do something for them – and he just fucking duped everybody. I know that Hillary [Clinton] had her flaws, but you know what? Anything would have been better [than Trump].
He also expressed his frustration over Trump’s divisiveness:
I get the comparison with the non-political-correctness, but other than that, we’re polar opposites. He made these people feel like he was really going to do something for them. It’s just so fucking disgusting how divisive his language is, the rhetoric, the Charlottesville shit, just watching it going, “I can’t believe he’s saying this.” When he was talking about John McCain, I thought he was done. You’re fucking with military veterans, you’re talking about a military war hero who was captured and tortured. It just didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. And that’s some scary shit to me.
6. Eminem Gets Frustrated Just Thinking About Trump (2017)
In the Complex Cover interview from 2017, Eminem admitted that Trump’s actions left him so frustrated that he struggled to put his thoughts into words. He criticised Trump’s political tactics, calling them a total hoax designed to manipulate his base:
When I start talking about Trump, I get too flustered in my head. There are too many things I want to say at once, so sometimes I start talking, and I am not able to convey the message the right way because I just get flustered and frustrated watching him play to his base that thinks that he cares about them. And it’s actually the people that he cares about the fucking least if you’re talking about his core being a majority white middle-class. What I don’t understand is how in the fuck do you
feel like you relate to a billionaire who has never known struggle his entire fucking life?
7. Eminem’s Secret Service Investigation over “Framed” Lyrics (2018-2019)
Eminem’s criticism even caught the attention of the Secret Service, which investigated him over his lyrics on Framed:
Donald Duck’s on, there’s a Tonka Truck in the yard
But dog, how the fuck is Ivanka Trump in the trunk of my car?
Gotta get to the bottom of it to try to solve it
Must go above and beyond, ’cause it’s incumbent upon me
Plus I feel somewhat responsible for the dumb little blonde
Girl, that motherfuckin’ baton twirler that got dumped in the pond
Second murder with no recollection of it.
According to documents unsealed in 2019, Em was personally questioned by federal agents. In response he rapped the verse back at them.
8. The “Vulture” Interview That Made the Secret Service Nervous
One of the “evidences” the Secret Service cited was Eminem’s 2017 Vulture interview, where he said:
He makes my blood boil. I can’t even watch the news anymore because it makes me too stressed out. All jokes aside, all punch lines aside, I’m trying to get a message out there about him. I want our country to be great too, I want it to be the best it can be, but it’s not going to be that with him in charge. I remember when he was first sniffing around politics, I thought, We’ve tried everything else, why not him? Then — and I was watching it live — he had that speech where he said Mexico is sending us rapists and criminals. I got this feeling of what the fuck? From that point on, I knew it was going to be bad with him. What he’s doing putting people against each other is scary fucking shit. His election was such a disappointment to me about the state of the country.
9. Eminem’s 2017 BET Freestyle
One of the most explosive moments in Eminem’s Trump feud came at the BET Hip Hop Awards. His freestyle was a no-holds-barred attack, where he called Trump a “kamikaze that’ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust” and made it clear:
Any fan of mine who’s a supporter of his
I’m drawing in the sand a line
You’re either for or against.
So, why is Eminem trending again?
The answer is simple: Some people just found out about a seven-year-old clip from the 2017 UK tour and think it is breaking news now, against the backdrop of a recent diplomatic scandal in the Oval Office.
The truth is, Eminem has not actively spoken about Trump in years. While he remains outspoken about issues like freedom of speech and corporate control, he has largely stepped away from direct political commentary. He has made his views known perfectly clear before. Somebody counted that in 2017-2018 Em dissed Trump 44 times.
And no — he is not leading “Fuck Trump” chants anymore. He does not even perform live right now, much to the disappointment of fans who actually follow his career.
