Eminem is expected to introduce former President Barack Obama at a rally Tuesday night for VP Kamala Harris in the rapper’s hometown of Detroit.
The 52-year-old Grammy winner and 44th president are coming out in support of the Democratic presidential nominee, who’s in a dead heat with Republican candidate Donald Trump with exactly two weeks to go before Election Day.
Michigan is a key swing state that swung Trump’s way when he won in 2016 and broke against him when he lost in 2020. Current FiveThirtyEight polling shows Harris leading Trump by just a tenth of a percentage point in Michigan.
According to CNN, Eminem, born Marshall Mathers, isn’t expected to perform any songs on Tuesday, but he may “offer his thoughts on the presidential race.”
Eminem trashed Trump in a 2017 freestyle in which he said Obama deserved “props” while his successor is a “stingy” racist.
But in a later song called “The Ringer,” he appeared to express regret for alienating fans that supported Trump, saying that he “empathize[d]” with the people he felt had been brainwashed by “this evil serpent.”
One of Trump’s biggest celebrity supporters is also a rapper from the Detroit area.
Robert James Ritchie, better known as Kid Rock, supported the 78-year-old three-time presidential nominee by performing at July’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
While Trump has captured the imagination of musicians like Kid Rock and country singer-songwriter Lee Greenwood, stars including Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Usher and Stevie Wonder have all thrown their support behind Harris.
Wonder, who’s also a Michigander, sang to Harris for her 60th birthday over the weekend. He’s currently hitting swing states with his 11-city “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” Tour, also making a stop in Detroit Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena.
