When Eminem Finally Apologized To Rihanna For a Leaked Song Verse: 'Wasn’t Meant to Cause You Grief'

Eminem shocked his audience in December 2021 by releasing the deluxe edition of his album Music to be Murdered By. The rapper made a reference to Rihanna, his Love the Way You Lie co-artist, in the song Zeus, saying, “And wholeheartedly, apologies, Rihanna / For that song that leaked, I’m sorry, Ri / It wasn’t meant to cause you grief.”

The statement was made in reaction to a contentious lyric concerning Chris Brown's 2009 attack on his then-girlfriend Rihanna, which had leaked the month before, per Billboard. The line appeared in the song Things Get Worse sample, which was supposedly recorded during sessions for 2009's Relapse album. “I’m not playing, Rihanna, where’d you get the VD at?/ Let me add my two cents/ Of course I side with Chris Brown/ I’d beat a bi— down too/ If she gave my di– an itch now,” the lyrics read.

On Shade 45 on Sirius XM in December 2021, Eminem spoke about the leak. “When it first happened, I was like, first, I didn’t know how, how somebody got it,” he said. “Second of all, I have no, zero recollection of even remembering doing that, that verse, like the rhyme schemes, didn’t even sound familiar to me.”

“So I was caught off guard too,” he continued. “I was like, ‘What the f—, I said that?'”

Alleging that he didn't even realize he had written this, he said, “It’s 10-plus years old, but I’m not making excuses for it,” he said, before adding, “I think I just said it cause it rhymed. And I think I’m sure looking back now, I should have thought better of it.”

“I said it and I was wrong for saying that, it was f—ing stupid,” he shared, per PEOPLE. “You know, a lot of times, especially with the Relapse record, when I first started learning how to rap again — because of the drug situation that I went through and having to relearn a lot of things — that was one of those things that it was like, well if it rhymes say it.”

He shared that although he's not making excuses, he wants to emphasize he was struggling. “I think that being able to look back, I mean, that's not even an excuse, but I'm just saying like that there was a phase I was going through with that Relapse record,” he continued, "I don't know. It was one of those things.”

Longtime friends and partners, Eminem and Rihanna even shared the top place on the Billboard Rap Songs chart in 2010 with their breakthrough hit, Love the Way You Lie. After finishing their 2014 Monster tour, the dynamic duo also shared a tour together. Many fans were shocked by Eminem's remarks because he and Rihanna had previously collaborated on a number of hugely successful music ventures and were pals.