Bizarre reason why Eminem was once banned from major UK venues

Eminem might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but overall, there’s a lot of love for him in the UK.

However, unfortunately for the outspoken rapper, the passion that fans on this side of the pond have for him hasn’t swayed British festival bosses much, who decided to ban him from performing a decade ago.

Even the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, couldn’t – and wouldn’t – use his power to get them to overturn the decision… as he apparently had no idea who Slim Shady was.

The musical choices in the Johnson household are another story. But seriously, Boris?

Long-time fans may recall that Eminem was reportedly booked to play the British Summer Time (BST) festival in 2014, before his plans were spectacularly derailed.

He reportedly settled terms with the organizers in June of that year, but it all came to a screeching halt when Royal Parks – the body that runs Hyde Park where the event was supposed to take place – found out about it.

According to the Mirror, a Freedom of Information request revealed that promoters AEG Presents were told the rapper could not take the stage due to some controversial lyrics to his songs.

In an email, Royal Parks CEO Linda Lennon said they did not want to risk Eminem’s music disturbing anyone in or around London’s Hyde Park.

It wrote: “This artist has signaled risks in general. Especially in terms of our public reputation.

“The nature of any act with the potential for lyrics to be considered offensive and/or inappropriate language being audible throughout the park, not to mention the surrounding residential areas, is unacceptable.”

Hoping to find a way around it, the decision was then passed on to Boris Johnson in the hope that the mayor of the capital could do something about it.

However, his chief of staff, Sir Edward Lister, explained that the politician was not really partial to Eminem’s music.

He is said to have responded by saying: “Until receiving both of these emails, I had no knowledge of Eminem and his style of music and I still don’t.”

The town hall said it was in the hands of Royal Parks and they had the final say.

AEG CEO Jim King tried to plead the rapper’s case, but it fell on deaf ears.

He said: “I don’t want to split hairs, but I wonder how easy it is for any offensive lyrics to actually be heard and understood outside of our event site.”

He added that he is “not aware of any other case where he has been prevented from performing in the UK”.

While acknowledging that Eminem might be using “industrial language,” King insisted that shouldn’t be a problem.

“Only a very small amount of his repertoire has been considered by some commentators to be controversial,” King said. “Claims of homophobia are consistently dismissed.”

But unfortunately for Eminem, the decision was final, meaning he didn’t get to join the line-up for 2014’s BST alongside the likes of Black Sabbath, Arcade Fire, The Libertines, Tom Jones and McBusted.

However, he reckons he had the last laugh when he ended up playing a series of sold-out gigs at Wembley Stadium – making him the first rapper to announce a show at the world-renowned venue.

Eminem gave his thoughts on the controversy surrounding his Hyde Park performance in an interview with BBC Radio 1 at the time, explaining that the snub actually won him a better gig.

He said: “I heard I wasn’t going to be approved to play in Hyde Park and it made me even more excited to play in London this summer. The easiest way to get me to do something is to tell me I can.” i don’t do it

“Thank you to the Royal Parks for making it all possible… for Wembley.”

I guess Eminem really is a half full kind of guy.