The fake Slim Shady sits down.
Vivek Ramaswamy of the GOP presidential candidate, who began rapping during his campaign appears to have backed down after Grammy award-winning rapper Eminem requested that he stop performing at campaign events.
In a text message sent to NBC News Monday night, Tricia McLaughlin said that the American public would be disappointed if we left the rapping up to the real slim shady.
In a cease and desist letter obtained by NBC News, first reported by The Daily Mail on Wednesday, music publishing giant BMI informed Ramaswamy’s campaign that it had “received a communication from Marshall B. Mathers III, also known as Eminem. He objected to Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign’s use of Eminem’s musical compositions.”
The letter stated that “BMI will regard any performance of Eminem Works from this date onwards by the Vivek campaign as a material violation of the Agreement, for which BMI reserves its rights and remedies in relation thereto.”
Ramaswamy (38), responded on X Monday: “Will the REAL Slim Shady please stand up? He didn’t say just what I thought he said, did he?”
The post refers to “The Real Slim Shady”, one of Eminem’s most popular songs released in 2000.
BMI didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.
Ramaswamy made headlines for rapping Eminem’s hit “Lose yourself” at the Iowa State Fair. A video from Ramaswamy, who was a senior at Harvard University when he performed the 2002 hit “Da Vek” under his stage name in 2006, also went viral.
Ramaswamy’s not the first presidential candidate who has received pushback over their use of music. In 2015, Neil Young’s manager claimed that Donald Trump had not been authorized by the to make use of “Rockin’ In The Free World”. George W. Bush had been asked 15 years ago to stop playing Tom Petty’s 1989 hit, “I Won’t Back Down”.
