A song on the rapper Eminem’s new album in which he puts himself in the shoes of a suicide bomber who killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017 in Manchester, England, is drawing widespread criticism from victims’ relatives and others.
The song, called “Unaccommodating,” is included on the rapper’s 11th album, “Music to Be Murdered By,” which dropped on Friday. The lyric that has prompted negative reaction is:
I’m contemplating yelling ‘bombs away’ on the game
like I’m outside of an Ariana Grande concert waiting
The mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, denounced the lyrics, the BBC reported.
“This is unnecessarily hurtful and deeply disrespectful to the families and all those affected,” Mr. Burnham said.
Figen Murray, whose son Martyn Hett was among those killed in the attack on May 22, 2017, at the Manchester Arena, accused Eminem of using Ms. Grande’s fame.
“Not clever,” Ms. Murray wrote on Twitter. “Totally pointless.”
Eminem’s publicist declined to comment.
The attack at the arena, in which the suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, a British citizen of Libyan descent, detonated explosives that were stuffed with bolts, nails and ball bearings, was the deadliest in Manchester since 1996, when a truck bombing by the Irish Republican Army tore the city apart.
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, is no stranger to contentious and provocative lyrics. “Unaccommodating” is the second song in which the rapper has referred to the Manchester attack. He also rapped about it in a freestyle song he released in 2018.
While the reference to the Manchester attack on “Unaccommodating” drew the most negative reaction on social media, Eminem also likens himself in the song to the serial killer John Wayne Gacy and mentions Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
Source : Nytimes
