Eminem Was Joking About Being on Tinder and Grindr, Says Rep

In a recent interview with Vulture, Eminem said he uses Grindr, the geolocation app primarily used by men who have sex with men (though it recently did a big virtue-signaling marketing show of trans/non-binary-inclusivity). Big if true from a man who once rapped, “My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge/That’ll stab you in the head whether you’re a fag or lez/Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest/Pants or dress. Hate fags? The answer’s, ‘Yes.’” But also, given the way self-loathing tends to manifest before someone’s comfortable enough to come out, it wouldn’t be that shocking.

(Keep in mind that Eminem has said a lot of things that aren’t necessarily true. His name isn’t really Stan, and he didn’t really drive off a bridge. Dr. Dre is not dead or locked in his basement. He’s not actually Inspector Gadget so, “Go-go gadget dick” doesn’t really work on his presumably non-mechanical dick. He probably isn’t ovulating.)

Anyway, the part of this interview with David Marchese, in which Eminem supposedly revealed he likes to steam in the male-heavy digital bathhouse, went down like this:

Do you date?

It’s tough. Since my divorce I’ve had a few dates and nothing’s panned out in a way that I wanted to make it public. Dating’s just not where I’m at lately.

When you were dating, how’d you meet people? Tinder?

I mean, yeah.

Are you being serious?

Yeah, Tinder.

Really?

[Laughs] And Grindr. I also used to go to strip clubs.

I think a lot of long-term relationships start in strip clubs.

What can I say? Going to strip clubs is how I was meeting some chicks. It was an interesting time for me.

[Laughs] But seriously. The larger context of this interview contains an explicit reference to Em’s declared heterosexuality—“The first time I got a taste of being called anti-gay was on “My Name Is” when I said, ‘My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high / The only problem was my English teacher was a guy.” All I was saying was I don’t swing that way.”—as well as some additional ruminating on the accusations of homophobia directed at Em and his friendship with Elton John, for whose wedding he bought a pair of matching his-and-his diamond-encrusted cock rings.

Given all this context, there were still some people, journalists among them who reported this news on their websites, who seemed to think Em was straightforwardly admitting to using Grindr. Imagine a coming out that low-key! Would be so relaxing for everyone if we lived in that kind of world!

I’m sorry to inform you, though, that we do not. When Jezebel inquired to Em’s rep at Universal for clarification, we received this word back: “I’m confirming that he was joking about using both Tinder and Grindr.” So there you go. In the spirit of this joke, I would like to announce that I have been spending my nights in the studio practicing and am prepping my debut rap album for second quarter ‘18. You fuckin’ love that, right? I have you in stitches right now, right?!