Eminem under fire after dropping song with lyrics about Ariana Grande concert bombings
- Publish date
- Monday, 20 Jan 2020, 1:10PM

Eminem has been blasted for his "distasteful" lyric about the bombing at Ariana Grande's Manchester concert.
The rapper released the track Unaccommodating on the surprise LP Music to be Murdered By on Friday, and whilst boasting about his hip-hop status, he referenced the tragedy at Ariana's Manchester Arena show in May 2017, which saw 22 people killed by a terrorist bomb.
He spits: "I'm contemplating yelling 'bombs away' on the game / Like I'm outside of an Ariana Grande concert waiting."
The Lose Yourself rapper - whose real name is Marshall Mathers III - has subsequently been slammed by many of his fans, and the parents of some of those who lost their lives at the gig.
Figen Murray, the mother of Martyn Hett, who was just 29 when he died, tweeted: "Feels like he is piggybacking on the fame of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber and says distasteful things about other celebrities. Not clever. Totally pointless. And before all Eminem fans pounce on me, I am not interested and will not engage."
Hi, thank you so much for raising the issue about Eminem's rap. I knew I would get lots of abuse and insults. I blocked dozens and in the end I deleted my tweets. Don't get upset about them. Not worth it at all. Life is too short to worry about it. Just block them. https://t.co/qQGR6PYQhE
— Figen Murray (@FigenMurray) 19 January 2020
The mother of Charlotte Hodgson, 15, who also died at the hands of the extremist Salman Abedi, called the song "disgusting" and "disrespectful".
According to The Guardian, Elkan Abrahamson, a solicitor for many of the families whose children were victims of the atrocity, said: "Eminem is a traitor to his talent; this is disrespectful, unwarranted and needlessly cruel."
Eminem is trash, I think that the Manchester reference is so unnecessary, it's insensitive and very disrespectful to the families of the tragedy, some may think I'm being sensitive, but of all the things he could've talked about, he chose that. #EminemIsOverParty
— 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓮𝓻 💫 (@marcuskawa_) 17 January 2020
eminem really mocked the manchester bombing on his new album? does he not realize that kids and teenagers lost their lives that night? absolutely sick in the damn head
— dominique ❅ (@CMONPUDDN) 17 January 2020
real talk, Eminem is such a piece of trash for making a punchline out of the 22 people who died in the manchester attack. do us all a favor and stop making music if this is the shit you think is funny. i’m so mad
— Noah Davis (@noahdavis50) 17 January 2020
However, others defended the rapper.
Before people “cancel” Eminem for some lyrics he has in one of his songs pls listen to his album and the full song first, his whole album is about Gun Violence and Mental health, he also raised over $2M when the Manchester Attack happened
— 𝐿𝒶𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓃 ♛ (@Lollie_Kel_x) 18 January 2020
To everyone talking about Eminem's verse on his latest album referring to the Manchester attack #Eminem pic.twitter.com/GmAF7ioFhq
— Abhi Jain (@abhijain298) 17 January 2020
How quick y’all forget! Don’t worry though, imma jog ya memories.
— anyareyna (@anyareyna_x) 17 January 2020
Pete Davidson joked about Manchester. And wait for it... Ariana defended him. And y’all are really mad about an Eminem verse?!? #MusicToBeMurderedBy #EminemIsOverParty pic.twitter.com/Nj8Qrc1QGi
The US star previously rapped about the terrorist attack in a 2018 freestyle, in which he spoke of "seeing Ariana Grande sing her last song of the evening" and compared himself to "a jihadist extreme radical suicide bomber".
The full verse went: "Squashed in between a brainwashing machine/ Like an Islamic regime, a jihadist extreme radical/ Suicide bomber that's seeing Ariana Grande sing her last song of the evening/ And as the audience from the damn concert is leaving/ Detonates the device strapped to his abdominal region/ I'm not gonna finish that, for obvious reasons."
Eminem had, at the time of the attack, called on his fans and followers to help raise funds for the many charities supporting the victims and bereaved families.
He tweeted: "Join me in helping Manchester victims & their families, Make a donation to the @BritishRedCross and @MENnewsdesk"
Join me in helping Manchester victims & their families, Make a donation to the @BritishRedCross and @MENnewsdesk https://t.co/JchJtYOdMU
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) 25 May 2017
The 47-year-old record producer is yet to address the negative comments.
-bangSHOWBIZ!
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