If it was Thursday, it must have been Macomb County District Court in Michigan. That's where Eminem made the latest stop in his crusade to keep VH1.com's News Wire interesting. On September 14 he gave a three-hour deposition in the
defamation case brought against him last year by his mother, Debbie Mathers-Briggs. The deposition was videotaped and will be replayed when the case comes to trial.
Mathers-Briggs is seeking $10 million in damages, claiming that her reputation was wounded by comments made by Eminem in songs from 1999's Slim Shady LP and in subsequent magazine interviews. Mathers-Briggs believes she was unfairly branded a drug addict by Eminem, who once rapped, "I just found out my mom smokes more dope than I do."
Eminem attended court with his criminal and civil attorneys, but his mother was not present. For his deposition, he was asked to confirm some of the claims he had made in his interviews, such as labeling his mother as "an unstable, drug-addled pill-popper."
"He made it clear that he'd rather pay his attorneys $100,000 and make sure she doesn't get a dime," summed up Fred Gibson, an attorney representing Mathers-Briggs.
Gibson alleged to The Detroit News that during the deposition a composed Eminem was "coached" to retract one statement. He added that Eminem clarified his drug claims by testifying that "the drugs she abused were prescription drugs" and not "illegal" substances.
Gibson said that Mathers-Briggs was on Vicadin and Valium while she was bringing up the young Marshall Mathers, but that she did not abuse them.
He added that in his testimony Eminem confirmed he had said at this years MTV Video Music Awards, "Every time a relative sues me, I sell more records."
Eminem should change that last statement to any time he opens his mouth, he sells more records. On Wednesday, former National Endowment for the Humanities chairperson Lynne Cheney accused him of promoting "violence of the most degrading kind against women" in songs like "Kim" from this year's Marshall Mathers LP. Mathers is still at No. 2 on the album chart.
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