The finale of Eminem’s interview with Mike Tyson provided the audience with an awkward moment when Marshal’s racial identity was put ion the spot again.
After an almost an hour of open and deep conversation, Tyson was saying goodbyes to Eminem and praised his resilience. The boxer said:
Everything you got was fucking not even given to you. You fucking slaved for it, you know what I mean? You’re the only white guy that knows what it’s like to be a nigga.
That was an uncomfortable moment for Em who could not even find the right words to respond to that, he chose to said carefully: “Not sure how to answer that”.
Em surely has had his share of similar conversations, being so integrated with the culture. However, he has never tried to appropriate it or to pretend that he is no different from his mates.
It did not stop, for example, Snoop Dogg to proclaim Eminem “a real nigga” in 2017.
