Following Chris Rock’s remark about the former’s wife at the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith delivered the slap that was heard around the globe. Even though the actor apologized, the matter of what should be done about Smith’s actions during the event is the subject of a great deal of industry discussion.
However, Smith has had disagreements with people before. One of his most famous feuds was with Rap God Eminem. Many fans remember how Eminem believed Smith was criticizing him during an award speech at the MTV VMAs, which the actor later denied. Here’s what actually happened.
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Did Will Smith Actually ‘Diss’ Eminem At An Award Show?
Will Smith’s ‘Miami‘ won at the MTV VMAs in 1999, defeating Eminem’s ‘My Name Is‘ to take home the award for Best Male Video. The actor then said he never had to use cursing in any of his songs to increase their popularity.
Eminem viewed it as an insult against him and his music, which frequently involves cursing. Lenny Kravitz and Ricky Martin were the only two candidates for the prize; at the time, neither of these musicians had ever used abusive language in a song.
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How Did Eminem And Will Respond?
The only way Eminem knew how to respond was to write a song criticizing Smith with the lyrics, “Will Smith doesn’t have to cuss to sell records / Well, I do / So f*ck him. And f*ck you too.” The #1 song by Eminem was only the tip of the iceberg.
An apparently drunk Eminem attacked Smith in the Forgot About Dre music video by claiming, “Yeah, all I know is I’m upstairs and I’m listening to my Will Smith CD and I seen all these flames.”
Following this, Smith chose to respond with his 2005 song ‘Mr. Nice Guy‘. The actor sang, “Mr. Nice Guy, relationship advice guy…Light on the vices, priceless smile…Look at the eyes, got the look…Of a survivor, husband, father…Dissed by Eminem but didn’t bother him…Yup well he classy…Big Will just get another 20 mill’ walk right past E…I’ma nice guy why ya’ll harassing me, huh!”
Even though this conflict was never truly resolved, nothing new has occurred between the two in recent years.
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