Judge Dismisses Eminem Defamation Suit by Former Bully. | Music News | Rolling Stone

Wow, interesting that this even happened...

By ANDREW DANSBY

OCTOBER 20, 2003 12:00 AM ET

A Michigan judge wrote a rap to support her reasons for dismissing a $1 million lawsuit filed against Eminem by an alleged junior high bully whom the rapper sought revenge against in song.

Thirty-two-year-old DeAngelo Bailey filed suit against the rapper, citing lyrics from "Brain Damage" (a song from the 1999 album The Slim Shady LP) as slanderous. The lyrics read in part: "I was harassed daily by this fat kid named DeAngelo Bailey/He banged my head against the urinal till he broke my nose, soaked my clothes in blood, grabbed me and choked my throat." Eminem's mother has publicly defended her son's account of Bailey's bullying.

But Bailey denied that he ever harmed Eminem (Marshall Mathers back in the eighth grade). Judge Deborah Servitto saw things differently and her thirteen-page opinion was padded with a ten stanza footnoted explanation of her ruling, that included the lines:

"Mr. Bailey complains that his rap is trash
so he's seeking compensation in the form of cash.
Bailey thinks he's entitled to some monetary gain
because Eminem used his name in vain.
The lyrics are stories no one would take as fact
they're an exaggeration of a childish act."

In closing, she stated, "It is therefore this court's ultimate position, that Eminem is entitled to summary disposition."