The Real Slim Shady or Just a Publicity Stunt?

by Jessica Brody, author of The Fidelity Files and Love Under Cover

Regardless of whether or not you watched the MTV Movie Awards Sunday night, you've probably heard about the highlights. The New Moon trailer, of course being a big one. And then there was the little incident that I like to call: "Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up...and Walk Out."

It was among the top 10 most Twittered about trends all day on Monday. After Sasha Baron Cohen (aka "Bruno") made a staggeringly bold entrance (suspended from the ceiling and dressed as an angel), he then proceeded to fall (butt-side up) right into Eminem's lap. The rapper was not too happy about the charade, judging from the beeped out profanities that were readable on his lips and the way he stormed out of the theater after his body guards managed to disentangle him from Bruno's scantily clad buttocks. But the real question buzzing around the internet and the Twitter community is of course, "was it real or was it a publicity stunt?"

Although certain sources close to both Eminem and MTV have come out confirming that the entire thing was in fact, staged and that Eminem was, in fact, in on it, official statements from the rapper and the network have yet to be made. Which continues to leave the question hanging in pop culture limbo.


As any good debater would (yes, I was the captain of the debate team in high school!), I'm going to study both sides of the coin and provide my arguments for each. Then, I'll let you make the final call.

Okay, here they are...

Reasons why I think Eminem was NOT in on the stunt:

1.The shock and disgust on his face was FAR too real.

I'm sorry, I've seen 8 Mile and while Eminem's debut acting performance was impressive, let's be honest, he really only played himself. In other words, not much acting required. So the fact that he might be able to play off this stunt as flawlessly as it appeared is a bit hard to believe.

2. Eminem would NEVER agree to have another man's bare buttocks in his face.

I mean, let's face it. The man's rich enough. He doesn't need the money. And even if he did...everyone has their boundaries. Eminem does not strike me as the kind of guy who would willingly agree to having Sasha Baron Cohen's behind (not to mention a few other unmentionables) planted in his face in exchange for publicity. I think he'd probably rather die.

Reasons why I think Eminem MIGHT have been in on the stunt:

1. MTV doesn't want to piss of someone like Eminem

C'mon. The guy's a music icon. An idol. A network awards show gold mine! He performs for the show, graces the amphitheater with his presence and then they do something like this? Which is guaranteed to piss him off to the point where he probably wouldn't come back next year. I mean, MTV has done some bold things before, but this would just be plain stupid. Talk about biting the hand that brings you ratings. Seems hard to believe that MTV would risk losing Eminem as a very valuable asset.

2. The whole thing was just a little too perfect

The camera positioning, the buttocks placement, the calculated reaction, the body guards...and of course, the megabytes upon megabytes of hot and juicy internet buzz. A lot of stuff had to line up to make this "stunt" as successful as it was. Which leads me to believe that MTV wouldn't necessarily rely totally on chance. And to play devil's advocate and use my OWN argument against myself (see first argument, number 1), Eminem was only playing himself in this little charade, much like he did in 8 Mile. So maybe this was just another perfect acting gig for him to tackle.

So those are my arguments. The jury is out on this one. What is your verdict?