http://www.drudgereport.com
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/arch...03-0-7-58.html
Eminem's balcony scene-stealer
Rapper replays Jackson's baby-dangling stunt with doll at Glasgow hotel, writes DAMIEN HENDERSON
POP history repeated itself as farce yesterday when Eminem, the enfant terrible of rap, dangled a plastic baby over the edge of his hotel balcony in Glasgow, to the delight of the small crowd of fans who had waited all day to see him.
His gesture parodied the actions of Michael Jackson, who last year provoked international outrage by holding a real baby - purportedly his own - over a hotel balcony in Germany in front of horrified crowds below.
The rapper's latest stunt adds to a catalogue of incidents that have secured his status as one of the most controversial figures in pop music today, leading George W Bush to label him "the most dangerous threat to American children since polio".
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, was visiting Scotland for only the second time to headline a sold-out performance at Hampden Park last night. More than 40,000 tickets for the show, which also features Cypress Hill, Xhibit, Obie Trice, and his occasional backing band, D12, sold out within 40 minutes when they went on sale.
Earlier in the day, Eminem played a game of cat and mouse with the crowd of about 30 fans and journalists who had waited since early morning for a glimpse of him at the Arthouse Hotel in Bath Street, but ended up crowding round a series of body-doubles standing in for him.
After arriving shortly after 6am in one of two tour buses, three people resembling Eminem were whisked into the front and back entrances of the hotel, where more than 50 rooms have reportedly been hired out by the tour entourage at a cost of over £6000.
Shortly after 3pm, a towel-covered figure emerged from the hotel, shielded by one of several huge bouncers who shooed press photographers away to escort him into a waiting people-carrier with tinted black windows.
Tensions flared when the car returned later and a scuffle ensued between one of the bouncers and a tabloid photographer. During the melee, the photographer grabbed the towel from the head of the man, revealing him to be an Eminem double.
"Will the real Slim Shady please stand up," someone from the crowd of teenage admirers quipped, quoting the rapper's own lyrics.
Dumisani Ncmanzi, 27, a Zimbabwean doctor working in England who was visiting Glasgow for the day, also showed signs of frustration. "This is like that song, Stan. We've been waiting in the cold for two hours now without a sign," he said, referring to the singer's ditty about an obsessive fan who commits suicide after failing to get an autograph from his idol.
"He's obviously too good for his fans," his wife Junior chimed, disheartened.
Green Lantern, the New York DJ who plays alongside Eminem, defended the subterfuge. "He gets this everywhere he goes," he said, gesturing to the smattering of photographers and youngsters still left on the street by late afternoon.
"This is nothing. This guy is like John Lennon and look what happened to him. I'm not saying that this is the same but you've got to learn from that s**t and take appropriate precautions."
The next appearance came at 5.20pm, when a group of bouncers took up positions opposite the hotel. A window opened and a lithe white man wearing a protective dust mask stepped on to the balcony.
"That's not him," screamed one outraged fan as he disappeared back inside. She was soon silenced, however, when he stepped back on to the balcony carrying a Mothercare doll and took off his face mask.
The crowd cheered, the doll was thrown upwards in a summersault, a fist was raised in salute and the 30-year-old Detroit rapper was back inside.
"Sars and Michael Jackson at the same time," Paulina Dandgey, a 19-year-old Glaswegian student, crooned approvingly.
Eileen Watson, 48, had travelled from Dunoon with her 19-year-old daughter to see the rapper. Both had tickets for last night's Hampden show.
She was unfazed by criticism of Eminem's depictions of violence against women or his casual espousal of gun culture. "He's just saying what he feels and what he's been through. I think he's brilliant," she said.
Grace, her daughter, was even more enthusiastic, heaping praise on him for appearing under a towel outside the hotel earlier. "He could have gone out the side door but he didn't," she said.
The last time Eminem played in Scotland, at Gig on the Green in 2001, 45 fans were taken to hospital requiring treatment and the show was abandoned at his request.
Hero and Villian
Eminem, a stage-name coined from the initials of his real name, Marshal Mathers III, rose to prominence in 1999 with The Slim Shady EP.
Slim Shady was designed as an evil alter-ego who could express the rapper's darker thoughts.
His mother attempted to sue him for $10m over allegations he made in a Rolling Stone magazine that she had taken drugs and was unstable.
During his last tour in Scotland, Eminem wielded a chainsaw and pretended to take ecstasy tablets on stage.
He has won a Grammy for best rap artist and an Oscar for Lose Yourself, the UK no 1 hit song from his debut film, 8 Mile.
His current tour is titled Anger Management and opens with shots of American politicians criticising the rapper's music.
During the Milton Keynes leg of the tour, Eminem was supported by 50 Cent, a rapper who has been shot nine times.
- June 25th
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