Slim Shady, Meet Rocket Man
For months following the release of Eminem's The Marshall Mather LP, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) had excoriated the rapper for his "homophobic" lyrics. So when it was announced that he was set to duet with Elton John on the song "Stan" at the 2001 Grammy Awards, GLAAD went nuts. For his part, John told the Los Angeles Times I'm a big fan of [Eminem's] music"...I'd rather tear down walls between people than build them up. If I thought for one minute that he was [hateful], I wouldn't do it."
The ensuing performance, with John filling in for Dido (poor Dido) on the song about an obsessed fan wasn't as weird as many thought it would be, with John actually injecting a note of calm civility into quite an angry song. Now, Elton, about that sherbert-colored ensemble of yours...