Brit festival bosses were forced to scrap their plans for Slim Shady to take to the stage in London

Eminem might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but overall, there is a lot of love for him in the UK.

However, unfortunately for the outspoken rapper, the fondness which fans on this side of the pond have for him didn’t do much to sway the stance of Brit festival bosses, who decided to ban him from performing a decade ago.

Even the then-mayor of London Boris Johnson couldn’t – and didn’t want to – wield any of his power to get them to overturn the decision… as he reportedly didn’t have a clue who Slim Shady was.

The music choices in the Johnson household is another story. But seriously, Boris?

Eminem’s bizarre gift to Elton John
Credit: BBC

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Longtime fans might remember that Eminem was supposedly being booked to perform at the British Summer Time (BST) festival back in 2014, before his plans were spectacularly derailed.

He had reportedly ironed out terms with the organisers in June of that year, but the whole thing got kiboshed when Royal Parks – the body which runs Hyde Park where the event was supposed to take place – got wind of it.

According to the Mirror, a Freedom of Information request revealed that promoters AEG Presents were told the rapper could not take to the stage due to some of his controversial song lyrics.

In an email, Royal Parks CEO Linda Lennon said that they didn’t want to run the risk of Eminem’s music upsetting anyone in or around London’s Hyde Park.

It read: “This artist flagged risks across the board. In particular in respect of our public reputation.

“The nature of any act with potential for lyrics to be deemed offensive and/or unsuitable language being audible within the park as a whole, let alone the surrounding residential areas, is unacceptable.”

Plans for Eminem to perform at Hyde Park ten years ago were derailed (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

In the hopes of finding away around it, the decision was then reportedly referred to Boris Johnson in the hopes that the mayor of the capital could do something about it.

However, his chief of staff, Sir Edward Lister, explained that the politician wasn’t really partial to any of Eminem’s music.

He is said to have responded saying: “Until receipt of both emails, I had no knowledge of Eminem and his style of music and still do not.”

The mayor’s office stated that it was in Royal Parks’ hands and that they had the final say.

The CEO of AEG, Jim King, did try and plead the rapper’s case, but it ended up falling on deaf ears.

He had said: “I don’t want to split hairs, but I do question how easy it is for any offensive lyrics to be heard and actually understood outside of our event site.”

He added he was not ‘aware of any other case whereby he has been prevented from performing in the UK’.

Although he admitted Eminem might use some ‘industrial language’, King insisted that it shouldn’t be a problem.

The rapper, pictured in 2014, was banned from taking to the stage at the British Summer Time festival (Gary Miller/FilmMagic)

“Only a very small amount of his repertoire has been deemed by some commentators to be controversial,” King said. “Claims of homophobia are consistently denied.”

But sadly for Eminem, the ruling was final, meaning that he didn’t get to join the line-up for 2014’s BST alongside the likes of Black Sabbath, Arcade Fire, The Libertines, Tom Jones, and McBusted.

However, he reckons that he got the last laugh as he ended up playing a string of sold-out gigs at Wembley Stadium instead – making him the first rapper to headline a show at the world-famous venue.

Eminem gave his thoughts on the controversy surrounding his performance in Hyde Park in an interview with BBC Radio 1 at the time, explaining that the snub effectively earned him a better gig.

He said: “I heard that I wasn’t going to be approved to play in Hyde Park and it made me even more excited to play in London this summer. The easiest way to get me to do something is to tell me I can’t do it.

“Thanks to the Royal Parks for making it all possible… for Wembley.”

I guess Eminem is really a glass half full kind of guy after all.