Eminem has made his allegiance in the 2024 presidential election clear by introducing Barack Obama and announcing his support for Kamala Harris at a rally in his hometown of Detroit.
The rap legend made a rare public appearance at the campaign event on Tuesday (October 22) where he gave a brief speech to the crowd before introducing former president Obama to the stage.
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“I’m here tonight for a couple of important reasons,” Em began. “As most of you know, the city of Detroit and the whole state of Michigan mean a lot to me. Going into this election, the spotlight is on us more than ever and I think it’s important to use your voice, so I’m encouraging everyobody to get out and vote, please.”
The Motor City MC also explained why he’s endorsing Harris for president: “I also think that people shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinions, and I don’t think anyone wants an America where people are worried about retribution or what people will do if you make your opinion known.
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“I think Vice President Harris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld.”
Em then welcomed Obama to the stage by saying: “And here to tell you much more about that: President Barack Obama,” prompting a huge roar of excitement from the crowd.
After dapping up Eminem, Obama told attendees: “I gotta say, I’ve done a lot of rallies so I don’t usually get nervous, but I was feeling some kind of way following Eminem.”
The former president proceeded to rap the iconic opening lines from “Lose Yourself,” much to the crowd’s delight: “I notice my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy… vomit on my sweater already, mom’s spaghetti… I’m nervous but on the surface I look calm and ready to drop bombs but I keep on forgetting!”
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He also joked: “I thought Eminem was gonna be performing. I was gonna jump out! Love me some Eminem.”
Eminem has previously been a vocal critic of Harris’ opponent Donald Trump.
Speaking to friend Elton John for Interview Magazine following Trump’s presidential victory in 2016, he said: “We have a president who does not care about everybody in our country; he is not the president for all of us, he is the president for some of us. He knows what he’s doing.
“As long as he’s got his base, he does not give a fuck about anybody else in America. But guess what? There’s more of us than there are of them. I still feel like America is the greatest country to live in. But we have issues that we need to work on and we need to do better.”
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Em also tore into the former Apprentice star in his 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards freestyle ad dedicated much of his Revival album criticizing the then-president.
