Eminem’s New Album Prompted Gen X to Declare a TikTok ‘War’ on Gen Z

In the past week, a somewhat one-sided argument has taken over TikTok. Gen X, it seems, is “declaring war” on Gen Z, going viral with shitposts about what they see as Gen Z’s overreaction to Eminem’s new album The Death of Slim Shady. Finding an exact inflection point is tough, but many signs point to a video, which has since been deleted, in which a younger TikTok user says, “I think we can all agree that if we’re generalizing, Gen X is the worst generation.” The video prompted multiple reactions, many of which found their way to FYPs across the platform. All of this catalyzed earlier this month when Eminem released The Death of Slim Shady, prompting various responses from Gen Z and turning a few viral videos into what Gen X calls a full-blown online “war.” One of the most controversial lyrics on Death comes from the track “Houdini,” in which Eminem raps, “My transgender cat’s Siamese / Identifies as Black but acts Chinese.” As the lyrics made the rounds, several Gen-Zers took to TikTok to “cancel” the rapper in his comment section. Gen Z me bruh?” from Eminem’s “Trouble.” One user commented, “No one tryna cancel Eminem,” adding all of Gen Z “grew up” with the rapper.