A mother who lost her daughter to the Manchester bombing last year took aim at Eminem (Marshall Mathers) for “freestyling” about the terror attack.
The 46-year-old was Not Afraid to stir up some trouble last week when he released an 11-minute track entitled Kick Off. He boldly and unnecessarily called out Ariana Grande by referring to the tragic event that took 22 innocent lives at her Manchester Arena concert last May.
After hearing the song. Charlotte Hodgson, mother of the late 15-year-old Olivia Campbell-Hardy, said the rap was “disgusting.”
In an interview with Manchester Evening News, she branded Mathers as a “vile human” for being so disrespectful to the victims and those affected by the attack.
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In the track, Mathers raps from the perspective of the assailant Salman Ramadan Abedi, claiming he was “lost” and “brainwashed” to commit the horrific crime.
He says, “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”
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Hodgson was shocked by the sheer amount of disrespect. “Why would people want to make money out of such an horrific event?’ she asked.
“Why would anyone compare themselves to a Jihadist or a bomber?” she added. “I think he needs help if he sees himself like that.”
Mathers ended the verse with, “I’m not gonna finish that for obvious reasons,” as if he were doing the listeners a favour after already reminding them of that fatal day.
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As a “prologue” for his new video, Mathers said “I’ve always looked at battle rap as competition or war and the main objective is to destroy… Completely f**king obliterate your opponent by saying whatever the f**k you can, to get a reaction from the crowd.”
His remarks certainly got a reaction as thousands (including Arianators) cried outrage over Twitter after seeing the video.
“My best friend’s mother is f**king raging due to this,” she added. “Eminem does not have the right to rap about her daughter’s death.”
“Do the U.K. a favour and delete this,” she concluded.
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For the most part, it seems Eminem fans are either confused or unfazed by the matter.
“Can someone please point out what Eminem did wrong,” asked one Twitter user.
Many are sure that Kick Off was just a political statement and that the Rap God is just not afraid to shine a light on such taboo topics.
Following the attack, Mathers actually reached out to his fans pledging for them to donate to the families of the victims through the British Red Cross.
He helped raise more than $4 million for those affected by the Manchester bombing, which some believe gave him the right to rap about the horrific events.
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Hodgson showed her gratitude towards Grande for organizing the ‘We Are Manchester’ benefit concert last September. “Ariana did a very respectful song in memory of everyone there and that was lovely,” she said. “A fantastic gesture.”
As of this writing, neither Mathers nor Grande have commented on the matter.
adam.wallis@globalnews.ca