Eminem Explains How His Surprise Oscars Performance Came Together

Eminem performs at the 92nd Annual Academy Awards in 2020.
Eminem performs at the 92nd Annual Academy Awards in 2020. Photo by Rob Latour/Shutterstock (10548150fy)

Eminem’s performance at this year’s Academy Awards took everyone by surprise, and celebrities attending the ceremony were as confused by it as the rest of the world.

Some people thought the whole thing was brilliant, while others couldn’t understand why he was there in the first place, but the famous rapper cleared things up in an interview with Variety.

Eminem set down with this magazine a day after his performance of his Oscar-winning song “Lose Yourself” from the 2002 film 8 Mile.

Eminem wasn’t present at the ceremony when the track originally won the Oscar for the Best Original Song, and he didn’t hesitate when the producers approached him with the idea to perform it almost two decades later.

“I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool… Back at that time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me,” said the rapper.

Eminem also added that appearing at the Oscars didn’t feel right at the time because he already performed “Lose Yourself” at the Grammys a few weeks before the ceremony in 2003. He didn’t even bother to watch it live and went to sleep after putting his daughter Hailie to bed.