Justin Vernon of Bon Iver has opened up about a series of controversial Tweets he made last year which saw him criticise a song he made with Eminem.
Last August, Eminem surprised fans, artists, and music executives around the world when he released Kamikaze with little to no warning. Almost instantly, the album received widespread acclaim, going on to be considered a return to form for the hip-hop icon, and topping charts around the world.
However, the record’s release also saw Justin Vernon (better known to many as Bon Iver) hit back at Eminem for the language used on the track ‘Fall’, which they both collaborated on. Although the lyrics censor the word ‘faggot’ while referring to Tyler, The Creator, Vernon remained resolute in his distaste for the track.
“Eminem is one of the best rappers of all time, there is no doubt. I have and will respect that,” he explained. “Tho, this is not the time to criticize Youth, it’s the time to listen. To act. It is certainly not the time for slurs. Wish they would have listened when we asked them to change it.”
“Was not in the studio for the Eminem track,” he continued. “[It] came from a session with BJ Burton and Mike Will. Not a fan of the message, it’s tired. Asked them to change the track, wouldn’t do it.”
Now, almost one year on, Vernon has spoken to Beats 1’s Zane Lowe about the way he handled the situation, conceding he could have taken an entirely different approach.
Check out Bon Iver’s interview with Zane Lowe:
Speaking following the release of the new Bon Iver album i,i, Justin Vernon spoke against the idea of social media, explaining how it has had a massive impact on the way that news is consumed.
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“I don’t like that people can be verified or not verified,” he explained. “I don’t want to be verified. I just find it all pretty funny.
“You end up doing shit, like somebody told me, or I was listening to a podcast where they’re like, ’75 percent of retweets are people [who] don’t read the articles’. They’re just like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a headline I can get with.’ I do the same shit.
“We haven’t adapted to this shit. I didn’t have a cellphone or the internet really even in high school,” he continued. “So we’re all adapting and it can get pretty ugly.
“Like I made that huge mess out of the Eminem song and I was just in a carwash, and I just tweeted. It’s like, what was I doing? I should’ve just probably chilled out and actually just said, ‘Please don’t put this song out.'”
While host Zane Lowe noted that the whole situation could’ve been kept out of the public eye, Vernon noted how he felt it “was really rude”, explaining that he “felt really bad about it”.
Check out ‘Fall’ by Eminem, featuring Bon Iver:
