Vivek Ramaswamy hit with cease and desist letter from Eminem!

Columbus, Ohio - Rapper Eminem has sent a cease and desist letter barring Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy from using his music on the campaign trail.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy raps to Eminem's Lose Yourself at the Iowa State Fair.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy raps to Eminem's Lose Yourself at the Iowa State Fair.  © Chip Somodevilla / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

In a letter dated August 23, music licenser BMI revoked the Ramaswamy campaign's use of Eminem's music, The Daily Mail reported.

The label had "received communications from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign's use of Eminem's musical compositions (the 'Eminem Works') and requesting that BMI remove all Eminem Works from the Agreement," the letter stated.

"This letter serves as notice that the Eminem Works are excluded from the Agreement effective immediately," the label continued. "BMI will consider any performance of the Eminem Works by the Vivek 2024 campaign from this date forward to be a material breach of the Agreement for which BMI reserves all rights and remedies with respect thereto."

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The notification came 11 days after Ramaswamy performed Eminem's hit song Lose Yourself at the Iowa State Fair as the GOP primary race heats up.

Vivek Ramaswamy professes a love of rap music

Vivek Ramaswamy is a big fan of Eminem, but the feeling doesn't seem to be mutual.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a big fan of Eminem, but the feeling doesn't seem to be mutual.  © MARK RALSTON / AFP

The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur is a big fan of Eminem and rap, having performed his own libertarian rhymes under the stage name Da Vek while he was studying at Harvard University.

"I did not grow up in the circumstances he did," Ramaswamy, the son of a physician and an engineer, told The New York Times of his musical idol. "But the idea of being an underdog, people having low expectations of you, that part speaks to me."

Eminem, a white rapper, is a "guy in every sense who was not supposed to be doing what he did," the Indian-American businessman added.

Ramaswamy's love of rap – a cultural phenomenon invented and honed by Black Americans – stands in contrast to his recent anti-Black rhetoric on the campaign trail.

Cover photo: Collage: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & MARK RALSTON / AFP

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