Fresno Teen Arrested For Instagramming Eminem Lyrics
The Fresno Bee reports that on Tuesday, Fresno police arrested a 15-year-old boy for posting Eminem lyrics on his Instagram account. The boy, whose name has not been revealed, shared lyrics from the Eminem song “I’m Back” which reference the Columbine killings, and when police raided his home, they found guns, ammunition, and a bulletproof vest. They’ve charged the kid with making terroristic threats, which is a felony, and with disrupting school activity.
The lyrics in question come from “I’m Back,” a song from Em’s massively popular 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP: “I take seven kids from Columbine, stand ’em all in a line / Add an AK-47, a revolver, a nine / A MAC-11 and it oughtta solve the problem of mine / And that’s a whole school of bullies shot up all at one time / I’m just like Shady and just as crazy as the world was over this whole Y2K thing.” At a press conference, Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer claimed that the kid had added some of his own words to Eminem’s, but it appears that he was confused over the fact that Em uses some of the same lines on his more recent song “Rap God.”
Police also claim that the boy fits the school-shooter profile, saying that he’s a “loner” and “socially awkward.” His family disputes that characterization, though, and the kid himself claims that he was hacked and that he didn’t post the lyrics. The guns in the house were unregistered, and most of them were found in a space underneath his father’s closet. Both the kid and his father deny any knowledge of the guns.
The fact that this kid had a whole arsenal in his house is certainly troubling. But how fucking insane is it that he isn’t being charged for that but that his offense is quoting one of the most popular rap albums of all time?