File picture of Eminem performing at the MTV Video Music Awards in Newark in 2022. The rapper has asked Vivek Ramaswamy to refrain from using his music during his presidential campaign
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. rapper Eminem has asked Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire former biotech executive, to not use his music during his presidential campaign, according to a letter disclosed on Monday.

In the letter dated Aug. 23, which was reported first by the Daily Mail, BMI, a performing rights organisation, informed Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign at the rapper’s request that it will no longer license Eminem’s music for use by Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign.

“BMI has received a communication from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign’s use of Eminem’s musical composition (the “Eminem Works”) and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem Works from the Agreement,” BMI says in the letter.

Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign told CNN it will comply with the request to stop using Eminem’s music.

Mr. Ramaswamy, a businessman with no political experience, has been rising in some opinion polls and has branded his rivals as “bought and paid for.”

The 38-year-old tech entrepreneur was at the center of many of last week’s first Republican primary debate’s most dramatic moments.

Mr. Ramaswamy, a fierce defender of former U.S. President Donald Trump, faced plenty of incoming fire from his more experienced rivals, who appeared to view him as more of a threat than Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has been trailing Trump as a distant second for a long time in the Republican primary polls.

Mr. Trump, the overwhelming front runner in the primary contest, skipped the first debate last week. He gave an interview to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which was released on X, formerly called Twitter, at the same time as the Republican debate.

Washington:

Rap star Eminem has formally asked Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to stop using his music on the campaign trail, according to a letter made public on Monday.

A video of Ramaswamy, who is enjoying a surge in the Republican primary race, singing along to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” at the Iowa State Fair went viral earlier this month.

In a letter first reported by the Daily Mail, the authenticity of which was confirmed to AFP, music licenser Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) stated that it had received an official request from Eminem demanding that the 38-year-old candidate no longer use his music.

Ramaswamy, who likens himself as “Trump 2.0,” has risen surprisingly to third place among Republicans who are in the running for the 2024 presidential primary elections.

As an undergraduate at Harvard, his side hustle was rapping libertarian-minded lyrics with the stage name “Da Vek.”

“If you think debater-extraordinaire Vivek G. Ramaswamy ’07 is intense, you obviously haven’t met Da Vek,” The Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, humorously noted in 2006.

During the last two elections, well-known artists including Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Aerosmith and Adele — as well as heirs of Prince — complained that their songs were played at Donald Trump rallies without their permission.

The Rolling Stones even threatened to sue if the Trump campaign continued to use the British group’s classic hit “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)