Dealing cards to Eminem
I am not going to deny that I find Eminem's music frequently offensive. His version of honest expression means that we have to know that at 36 he has not matured enough to abandon his obsessive gay bashing. That nasty aspect of Eminem is far more present in this song than anything about Sarah Palin. But host O'Reilly never mentioned the gay bashing at all. Instead, he poured vitriol on a Sarah Palin look-alike essentially recreating Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" video." It is pretty slight stuff by Eminem standards. But as posted on his site, O'Reilly offered: "Eminem is on a totally obscene rant about Sarah Palin, but there is not a word from the New York Times, NBC News, or any of the monolithic left-wing media. If a country singer made a song like that about Hillary Clinton, he'd be killed in the press." Forget country, has he scanned references in Eminem lyrics to Bill Clinton? And doesn't he know Eminem could just as easily have made a song about Hillary Clinton and still might? Eminem made a video in Vegas where all celebrity is equal and politics irrelevant. This is a point O'Reilly clearly misses.
If you watch the video, Eminem obviously has no political message in "We Made You." The other people satirized include Amy Winehouse and Jessica Simpson. As always, Eminem is making ripped-from-the-headlines music with lots of popular culture references. His Sarah Palin owes more to "Saturday Night Live" than to any great outrage against the body politic.
One person in the video that Vegas regulars will recognize is Palm's owner George Maloof, who makes a cameo as a blackjack dealer giving cards to Dre, 50 Cent and Eminem. "They wanted to do the scene from 'Rain Man' and the producer asked me if I wanted to be in it. It was shot at the floor of the Palms," Maloof says. "A lot of people stopped and did a double take at the sight of the three of them." Maloof actually is that rare casino owner who knows how to gamble, including basic strategy for blackjack. But the trio of rap stars should stick to their day jobs: "I can tell you none of them know how to play blackjack. It probably isn't a thing to let people know, because they are cool guys. But they can't play."
As for being connected go the controversial rapper's new video, Maloof has no regrets:
"No, it's all for fun. The guys are really nice guys. I love Eminem. He actually owns a condo at Palms Place. He is a gentleman, but he has so many different ideas. Even as were doing the shoot, he had so much creativity. He didn't follow the script, he does what he wants."