Elton John just gave a fascinating, extensive interview to the Telegraph, and while there is a lot to learn (someone needs to shut down his obsession with collecting porcelain, because it it out of control and so weird), the most revealing parts come when he defends his associations with Rush Limbaugh and Eminem. “When [Limbaugh] asked me to play at his wedding, my agent said, ‘Well, of course you won’t be doing it,’†says John. “But I said, ‘Well, let me think about that first.’†John’s appearance at the wedding drew fire, since Limbaugh is notoriously averse to gay marriage, “But then so is President Obama. But Limbaugh’s not anti-civil partnerships, so maybe I can have a dialogue about that. I’ve put my foot in the water and so has he. I got on with him very well, got on very well with his wife. I don’t have the same politics, but that doesn’t really matter. And I think this year I can start to put things in motion by trying to get him on my side.†This will almost definitely happen! (And can we all agree that Limbaugh probably likes the worst Elton John songs? You just know that his favorite album is something like Victim of Love.)
So what makes John so confident that he can sway Limbaugh? His friendship with supposed homophobe Eminem, of course, which eventually culminated in something awful that is somehow a teachable moment:
How Em kept this from Anderson Cooper, we’ll never know. (Also: ouch?)
The tide can change, [John] says. He faced similar criticism in 2001 when he joined Eminem on stage at the Grammy awards, ignoring the controversy about the rap singer’s allegedly homophobic lyrics. Eminem has now come out in support of gay marriage. ‘For our civil partnership present he gave David [Furnish] and me two diamond-encrusted cock-rings.’
How Em kept this from Anderson Cooper, we’ll never know. (Also: ouch?)
Elton John interview [Telegraph UK]