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Eminem, Jay-Z Announce Tour Awkwardly

Baseball fans tuning into ESPN yesterday for the Yankees-Tigers game got more than they bargained for when Jay-Z and Eminem popped into the broadcast booth in the bottom of the third inning to announce a pair of co-headlining shows: Jay will open for Eminem on September 2 at Detroit’s Comerica Park, and Em will return the favor on September 13 at Yankee Stadium. Wow, that’s incredible! Arguably even better, though, was the beautiful strangeness of the entire exchange.

Our five favorite moments:

5. Dave O’Brien’s rambling introduction: “Between the two of you, 21 … Grammy … Awards … and a big announcement coming up … ”
4. Eminem squirming his way around saying he doesn’t watch baseball.
3. The chyrons identifying Jay-Z as a “hip hop artist” and Eminem as a “rapper/actor.” Thanks, ESPN!
2. Rick Suttclife crediting Jay’s World Series performance of “Empire State of Mind” for the Yankees win. Also, Sutcliffe nodding effusively at Jay-Z‘s mention of “Renegade,” then later asking, “Now, is there chance for another song, where you guys might be doing something like that together?” We guess we can expect to see Rick Sutcliffe at Yankee Stadium on September 13?
1. Jay-Z pronouncing “genre” as if it’s spelled “jenre” (not that awkward or anything, but just something we’ve wanted to point out for awhile).

[Via Billboard]

Eminem, Jay-Z Announce Tour Awkwardly