Eminem on why he performed at the Oscars 17 years after Academy Award win: Past show wouldn't 'understand me'

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Eminem shocked viewers during Sunday night's broadcast of the Oscars with an unannounced performance of "Lose Yourself."

The rapper, 47, won an Oscar for the song, featured in the movie "8 Mile," in March 2003, but was not present at the ceremony to perform it or to accept the award.

In an interview with Variety published on Monday, Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, opened up about what brought him to the Oscars stage nearly 17 years later.

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"I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool," said Eminem of being invited back. "Back then, I never even thought that I had a chance to win, and we had just performed 'Lose Yourself' on the Grammys with the Roots a couple of weeks before the Oscars, so we didn’t think it was a good idea."

He added: "And also, back at that time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me."

US rapper Eminem performs onstage during the 92nd Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 9, 2020. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP) (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty)

As it turned out, he certainly had a shot at winning and remembered thinking it was "crazy" that he did.

"That to me shows how authentic and real that award is — when you don’t show up and you still win," he noted. That makes it very real to me."

Eminem said that he didn't even watch the 2003 ceremony on TV, but he was at home with his daughter, who had to be at school the next morning.

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"I don’t know that I was disappointed [to have missed it], I was blown back by the fact that I won," remembered Eminem. "I don’t even think I understood back then that you could get an Oscar for a song, and I remember being kinda confused about why I was even up for one, because as a kid with the Oscars, it was like a vacuum."

That year, the award was presented by Barbra Streisand and was accepted by Eminem's keyboard player.

"Luis Resto, my keyboard player who produces records with me, went up and accepted it — and I know people were probably like, 'Who the f--k is this guy?'" said the rapper. "So he called me, and I remember the phone kept ringing, and I’m like 'Motherf---er, I’m tryin’ to sleep!' But [I answered] and he’s like 'Hey man, you won!' 'I did? S--t! Cool!' But that was a different time and I was in a different place in my life."

Eminem said that despite rumors at the time, requests to censor the song had nothing to do with turning down the chance to perform. He also claimed that because nominated songs are traditionally performed each year, the Oscars considered having someone else perform it.

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This year, however, when the Academy reached out to Eminem, he accepted, partially because the performance would come shortly after the release of a new album, "Music To Be Murdered By."

"We flew in [to Los Angeles] last week, so we probably have four or five rehearsals just to make sure we got everything right," he said of how the show came together. "Most of the rehearsals were offsite, not in [the Dolby Theater], just trying to keep it secret."

Eminem performs onstage during the 92nd Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 09, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Eminem hasn't starred in a film since "8 Mile," which was loosely based on the beginning of his music career. Since then, he's made minor appearances in film and television, often playing himself.

As for whether he'll ever return to acting, he said: "... if the right script comes along and it’s something that fits with my schedule I might take another dive in it."

The rapper also touched on his outspoken dislike of President Trump -- which led to him being interviewed by the Secret Service -- and why other artists aren't being as vocal as he is.

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"In the hip-hop world, there’s definitely some people that have gone at him," said Eminem. "But I kinda feel that I’ve said what I had to say and people know where I stand on it, so …," added the rapper before, according to Variety, there was dead silence then a publicist wraps up the call.