10 Most Controversial Music Videos Ever
9. Eminem Ft. Dido - Stan
Aside from a lyrical genius and unmatched ability to chain seemingly impossible rhymes together, one of the reasons Eminem is so revered as a rapper is because of his narrative ability.
The issue some find with him though is that his stories aren’t very nice. Coming on the same album as Kim, which sees him hypothetically killing his wife absolutely graphic terms, Stan offers a more introspective story... of an obsessive fan killing his pregnant girlfriend and himself.
The video, where featured artist Dido plays Stan’s girlfriend, depicts the narrative of the song as Eminem tells the tale. As he’s done several times across his career, the song exists to make clear the divide between Marshall Mathers the man, Eminem the entertainer and Slim Shady the character.
However, a lot of people, in particular concerned parents, either missed the nuance or didn’t find it to be communicated clearly enough. The video which sees a pregnant woman stuffed in a trunk while her drunk boyfriend deliberately drives into the river caused many channels to either chop the video short or cut it entirely.
Considering the key message of the song is in the final verse, cutting it short was not a great idea.