December 19, 2000 12:54

EMINEM ALL BLACKLISTED

Another day, another Marshall Mathers controversy...

Photo Gallery: Eminem

Retailers in NEW ZEALAND caught selling EMINEM's 'MARSHALL MATHERS LP' to under 18s face a prison sentence and a NZ$10,000 fine.

Under draconian measures just introduced by the Film Video and Publications Act in the country, the album has been given an R18 rating, restricting sale to 18 year olds and over. Shop owners caught selling the album to under 18s face a three-month prison sentence and a $10,000 fine. Any customer caught buying the album faces a $25,000 fine.

According to hip hop website www.sohh.com, the country's chief censor Bill Hastings explained the reasoning behind the move saying, "the danger exists that vulnerable and impressionable young people will take on board the misogyny and homophobia, the casual attitude to drug use and aggressively violent stance of the album along with the admiration for the artist."

At press time, a spokesperson for Eminem was unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, Eminem's mother Deborah Mathers-Briggs is quoted in the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper today saying her son told her "the one thing I want for Christmas is for you to drop dead". Mathers-Briggs also claims she has been reduced to staying in a US$25 a night motel while attempting to visit her son because he wouldn't let her in.

Mathers-Briggs talks at length about the relationship with her son claiming "he is with people now who are brainwashing him" in the double Christmas issue of the NME in shops throughout the UK today (December 19).

Finally, Eminem returned to court yesterday (December 18) to face charges relating to an alleged incident on June 3 involving an associate of his hated rivals Insane Clown Posse. The possession of a concealed weapon charges, brought in Oakland County Court, are much less serious than those he faces over an alleged pistol whipping of love rival, due to come to trial in February.