You make the call.

Now, I’ll go on record as saying that I don’t hate the guy’s music, no matter how much it’s been overplayed. I’ve actually liked a bunch of it. On the other hand, he appears to be careening toward Lars Ulrich-ism, that warm, fuzzy combination of hypocrite and bully that really makes me want to put a person in the middle of a Turkish prison and yell “GANG BANG!”

If I’m reading this right, somehow Eminem (or his handlers, who should be fired immediately if they’re behind this…) think it’s OK for him to call his mom a pill-popping slut, say that Christina Aguilera gave head to Carson Daly and Fred Durst, call Moby a faggot, and so forth, but a harmless Weird Al parody video, like the ones Michael Jackson and Nirvana got in their day, might “taint his legacy”? Nigga please. I’m surprised this buffoon hasn’t tried to sue Nivek Ogre yet for the “Cracker” video from his last ohGr album.

If Al weren’t such a nice guy (he always asks for permission from his subjects, something I’m sure Eminem doesn’t make too much of a habit of, unless he and Lynne Cheney have something going on the side that I’m not aware of…), this wouldn’t even be an issue. Assuming that it’s still a valid piece of law in any court in this country (a pretty big leap of logic, I know…) parody of public figures is protected under the First Amendment. Al, like Eminem, could do whatever the fuck he wants, but again, he’s a nice guy, and he’s probably terrified of having someone do a drive-by on him for it to boot. Eminem, on the other hand, will probably write some crack about how Al fucks his mother into his next record.

Unfortunately, Eminem seems to be mired in a pattern of picking on anyone who can’t defend themselves, rather than, for example, Suge Knight. If he really had the set of balls on ‘em that he claims he does and was this “important” hip-hop artist that he pays his sycophants to tell everyone he is, he’d write a song about Knight and all the other parasites who’ve buried at least a few of his contemporaries in the hip-hop game. That wouldn’t fit his profile, though, as I don’t recall too many instances where Mr. Mathers has made jabs at anyone of color, regardless of their merit (or lack of) as a person. I guess he figures the hip-hop community will play ball with him as long as he sucks up, which in the long run is even more disrespectful than throwing around ethnic slurs in my book.

As I see it, not approving this video was a HUGE gaffe by Eminem, because it does and will “cement his legacy”…as a poor sport who can dish it out but can’t take it.