Eminem Fires Off Cease and Desist to Vivek Ramaswamy For Rapping 'Lose Yourself' On Campaign Trail
The Ramaswamy campaign was notified of the cease and desist on August 23.
Aug. 28 2023, Published 5:29 p.m. ET
Rapper Eminem sent GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy a cease and desist over the Republican's use of his music while campaigning for president, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Controversial political newcomer Ramaswamy, 38, made headlines after rapping popular songs by Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, on the campaign trail.
Vivek Ramaswamy went viral over rapping Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' on the campaign trail.
According to a letter sent to music licenser BMI, the rapper asked that Ramaswamy's license to use his music be revoked.
The Daily Mail reported that the Ramaswamy campaign was notified of Eminem's request in a letter dated August 23 from BMI.
The letter stated that the licenser "received communications from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign's use of Eminem's musical compositions (the "Eminem Works") and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem Works from the Agreement."
The label went on to warn the Republican's campaign that "this letter serves as notice that the Eminem Works are excluded from the Agreement effective immediately."
"BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto," Ramaswamy's campaign lawyer was told in the letter.
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Eminem's request prompted the letter to be sent just 11 days after Ramaswamy made headlines after a campaign event at the Iowa State Fair. While on stage with Governor Kim Reynolds, Ramaswamy was asked what his favorite walkout song was.
The businessman turned GOP candidate enthusiastically responded by bouncing around on stage to his walkout song of choice, Eminem's mega hit Lose Yourself.
Ramaswamy grabbed the mic and began rapping Eminem's lyrics to the crowd — and the footage quickly went viral online.
Ramaswamy had a history of mixing political ideologies with rap dating back to his undergrad at Harvard.
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"Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose. To the American people's chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real slim shady," a spokesperson for the entrepreneur said after the Iowa State Fair performance.
While the Ramaswamy campaign saw the political hopeful's rendition of the classic 8 Mile song a success, especially among the highly sought after youth vote, Eminem was clearly not as thrilled.
Ramaswamy previously praised Eminem as a pop culture figure he looked up to, even though they came from drastically different upbringings.
"I did not grow up in the circumstances he did," Ramaswamy said of Eminem to the New York Times in August. "But the idea of being an underdog, people having low expectations of you, that part speaks to me."
Ramaswamy apparently had a lot of practice leading up to the Iowa State Fair from his undergrad days at Harvard University, where he used to rap libertarian-themed lyrics under the stage name "Da Vek."
