Vivek Ramaswamy hits back at Eminem after he's banned from rapping songs on campaign trail
Eminem and music publisher BMI sent a cease and desist to Republican presidential hopeful Ramaswamy after he sang Lose Yourself on the campaign trail
Ramaswamy says ‘I’ll respect his wishes’ after receiving cease and desist letter from Eminem
Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has hit back at Eminem for banning him from rapping his songs on the campaign trail.
The 38-year-old businessman, who is hoping to be the Republican candidate for the 2024 elections, went viral after rapping Lose Yourself by Eminem while at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month.
However, on August 23, the singer and BMI sent a cease and desist demanding he stop using the rapper’s music without his permission.
Appearing on MSNBC, Ramswamy told host Andrew Mitchell he will comply with Eminem’s demands - but made it known he wasn’t particularly happy about it.
Stating he’ll ‘respect his wishes’, Ramaswamy then couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the star and said: “What I will say is, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
“Eminem, in his rise, used to be a guy who actually stood up to the establishment and said the things that the establishment didn't want him to say.
“I think the fact that my political viewpoints may differ from his, I think people change over the course of their lives, but I have hope for him that he will one day rediscover the renegade that made him great and I'm rooting for that success in his life.”
The biotech entrepreneur is currently fighting to gain the Republican nomination for President in the 2024 race against Democrat incumbent Joe Biden.
According to Five Thirty Eight, which tracks election polling, Donald Trump is still ahead of everyone else - despite his indictment last week - by a wide margin of 49.2%.
Ron DeSantis is a distant second at 14.9%, while Ramaswamy is third with 10.1%.
Ramaswamy is now steadily ahead of Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, who had previously tracked higher than him, but currently only has a 5.0% support rating.
Ramaswamy had previously spoken about his love for Eminem, telling the New York Times that he related to the 50-year-old Without Me rapper.
“I did not grow up in the circumstances he did,” he said at the time. “But the idea of being an underdog, people having low expectations of you, that part speaks to me.”
