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LONDON — Eminem kept the BBC from filming his weekend headline performance at the annual Reading Festival in the U.K.
“Sadly we will not be bringing you any TV or live stream coverage of tonight’s headline set,” the BBC’s festival Twitter account said late Saturday night. “?@Eminem? has asked us not to film his performance.”
The music star made his first appearance at Reading since 2001. The BBC streamed many performances live and also shot highlights for its TV network BBC Three. It wasn’t immediately clear why Eminem didn’t want the BBC to film the performance, but The Rolling Stones earlier this summer also blocked the BBC from shooting their Glastonbury Festival appearance.
The band argued that it wanted to make it a special night for the paying audience in attendance, though they did end up allowing the BBC to air an hour of the set.
Eminem’s performance, meanwhile, made headlines in the U.K. with questions about whether he was lip-synching, which festival organizers denied right away.
During the Saturday set, some fans on Twitter wondered whether he was performing some parts live or not, NME reported. “Eminem is miming. Disappointing. #ReadingFestival,” one woman tweeted.
Melvin Benn, the boss of the Reading and Leeds festivals, the latter of which Eminem closed on Sunday night, told the publication those suggestions were “nonsense.”
?Onstage at Reading, Eminem also mentioned his past fight against addiction, according to NME. “Obviously, Reading, I can’t get fucked up with you all. I know that’s fucked up,” it quoted him as saying. “But can I take you back to when I did get fucked up?”
Eminem brought Dido onstage for a surprise appearance. She joined him in singing their 2000 hit “Stan.”
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
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