"He's been on the Taylor defense squad for like 15 years"- Fans react as Eminem praises Taylor Swift during viral AI Slim Shady interview

While promoting his latest The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) album, Eminem seemingly praised Taylor Swift. On July 30, he appeared in a YouTube video for Complex, he and his alter-ego Slim Shady got into a heated conversation, with the latter praising the Willow crooner.

Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, faced his former persona, Slim Shady, in the interview. The latter, which was created using artificial intelligence, told Eminem:

“You’re not f**king Taylor Swift. You had one era that mattered… mine.”

Slim Shady was making a reference to Taylor Swift’s numerous albums like Reputation, Folklore, Lover, and Fearless being dubbed as their own separate “eras.”

The Eminem and Slim Shady face-off video on Complex’s YouTube channel had amassed over 480,000 views at the time of writing this article. Taylor Swift fans also took to X(formerly Twitter) to support Mathers following the video. A few reactions read:

“Eminem has always been having her back,” another X user said.

“All the greats respect Taylor anybody who doesn’t isn’t a real artist,” another fan commented.

The praise comes after Mathers’ latest album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, finally beating Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, which held the position for 12 weeks.

“i knew slim shady would love taylor,” one netizen said.

“Another great figure acknowledging his peers,” another X user said.

“We gen Z swifties stand with him,” another person said.

Taylor Swift has expressed her admiration for Mathers in the past. She also covered the latter’s Lose Yourself song in one of her earlier concerts.

“He praised her on Killshot too followed by a silence after her name. Goat recognizes goat,” another person said.

“Real recognizing real. He don’t go after Taylor cause Taylor the only one that can actually clap back,” one person said.

“Eminem sent Taylor flowers after Kanye stormed the stage and ruined her VMA speech. He’s always liked her,” one netizen said.

---

Inside the Eminem and Slim Shady Complex interview

While promoting the latest album, Slim Shady told Mathers that he had profited immensely from him throughout his career as he hid behind him to “say everything you didn’t have the balls to say.” Slim Shady also said:

“Everything that people think of when they think of Eminem is f**king yours truly. From the blonde hair to the middle finger to the fucking jokes — all of it, me. And if we’re being honest, the music that you’ve been dropping since I bounced ain’t it.”

In response, Mathers stated that the way the world responds to controversial statements has changed and that he wants to “let people live their lives.”

Mathers also spoke about Richard Gere, Ja Rule, Christina Aguilera, and his nemesis Machine Gun Kelly in the interview. At one point, the duo seemingly brought up the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud by mentioning Drake’s Family Matters and discussing Ozempic.