Eminem Issued An Open Call To All His ‘Stans’ To Appear In His Upcoming Documentary

Eminem is looking for real-life Stans to appear in his upccoming documentary about the phenomenon. The Detroit rap icon famously coined the term that has become the bane of online music discussion and now, he wants his biggest fans to share their stories. He tweeted out a link to a questionnaire that asks when and how respondents first heard about Eminem, whether they consider themselves Stans or not, whether they collect Eminem merch, write fan fiction about him, or make artwork inspired by him.

The term “Stan” was famously coined by Eminem in a song from the 2000 Marshall Mathers LP of the same name. The titular character was a fan who wrote increasingly unhinged letters to Eminem (expressed in first-person lyrics from Eminem in character and played by Devon Sawa in the music video) as he engaged in a one-sided, parasocial friendship with the rap star. The song ends with Stan interpreting a lack of response from Eminem as a rejection, snapping, and driving his car off a bridge with his girlfriend locked in the trunk. In the final verse, Eminem does get around to responding, only to realize that he’s too late.

While he likely meant the song as a tongue-in-cheek satire of fans’ obsessions with celebrities, in recent years, the term has been applied to online fan clubs who engage in targeted bullying campaigns against stars’ perceived rivals and critics. These attacks have been known to escalate into offline harassment, including “swatting” or “doxing” victims (calling in false police reports or sharing private information online) and even allegedly threatening to vandalize family members’ gravesites.

Eminem’s Stans have even harassed writers of this very site (y’all really did not like our reviews of his last few albums). Maybe you can include those stories on the questionnaire, which you can find here.