Bon Iver's Justin Vernon Regrets Calling Out Eminem on Twitter
Eminem came under fire last year for dissing Tyler, the Creator on his Kamikaze album.
The Detroit rapper used a homophobic slur when referencing the IGOR MC on his song “Fall.” “Tyler create nothin’, I see why you called yourself a fa***t, bitch,” he rapped.
Em faced backlash on social media from some including Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who also happens to be featured on “Fall.” At the time, Vernon said that he was “not a fan of the message” of the song.
“Was not in the studio for the Eminem track… came from a session with BJ Burton and Mike Will,” tweeted Vernon, who released his fourth album I, I earlier this month. “Not a fan of the message, it’s tired. Asked them to change the track, wouldn’t do it.”
He added, “Eminem is one of the best rappers of all time, there is no doubt. I have and will respect that. Tho, this is not the time to criticize Youth, it’s the time to listen. To act. It is certainly not the time for slurs. Wish they would have listened when we asked them to change it.”
Was not in the studio for the Eminem track… came from a session with BJ Burton and Mike Will. Not a fan of the message, it’s tired. Asked them to change the track, wouldn’t do it. Thanks for listening to BRM https://t.co/E0wmt732ty
— blobtower (@blobtower) August 31, 2018
Eminem is one of the best rappers of all time , there is no doubt. I have and will respect that. Tho, this is not the time to criticize Youth, it’s the time to listen. To act. It is certainly not the time for slurs. Wish they would have listened when we asked them to change it
— blobtower (@blobtower) August 31, 2018
Now, one year later, Vernon says he regrets publicly condemning Em. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, he addressed his tweet. “I made that huge mess out of the Eminem song. I was just in a carwash, and I just tweeted,” he said. “It’s like, what was I doing? I should’ve just probably chilled out and like actually just said, ‘Please don’t put this song out.’ And it was very rude and I felt really bad about it. I think people have not figured out how to calculate how easy it is to say something on [Twitter] with how much you should say it.”
Speaking with Sway Calloway last September, Em himself expressed remorse over the homophobic Tyler diss. “I was angry when I said the shit about Tyler,” he said. “Every time I saw this kid, always so cool to you. I loved his energy. He was a funny dude. He’s super charismatic and shit. But I’m sitting back like, man, at what point do I have to say something just to defend myself? And I think that the word that I called him on the album on that song was one of the things where I felt like this might be too far. In my quest to hurt him, I realized that I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it.”
During his interview with Apple Music, Vernon also spoke about collaborating with Chance the Rapper and Kanye West. “He cares about music a lot,” he said of West. “You don’t get to have made the music he’s made if you don’t, and he puts it very high up.”