--- title: Eminem Pausing in the Donald Trump Rap Video Becomes Meme description: Eminem's rap about Donald Trump has become a hilarious meme about awkward pauses. canonical: https://time.com/4985439/eminem-trump-meme/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-17T14:14:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:03.537Z og:title: Eminem's Anti-Trump Rap Video Is Your New Awkward Pause Meme og:description: The internet can't stop laughing about it og:url: https://time.com/4985439/eminem-trump-meme/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d19da9a83c04820/6988e17b656a3fd8c1bd20bd/eminem-mtv-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2014 MTV Movie Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Eminem's Anti-Trump Rap Video Is Your New Awkward Pause Meme twitter:description: The internet can't stop laughing about it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d19da9a83c04820/6988e17b656a3fd8c1bd20bd/eminem-mtv-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eminem's Anti-Trump Rap Video Is the Only Awkward Pause Meme the Internet Ever Needs by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 17, 2017 2:14 PM UTC  LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 13: Recording artists Eminem performs onstage at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on April 13, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for MTV) LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 13: Recording artists Eminem performs onstage at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on April 13, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for MTV)Christopher Polk—Getty Images for MTV by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 17, 2017 2:14 PM UTC [Eminem’s anti-Trump rap music video](http://time.com/4977535/eminem-trump-freestyle-rap-lyrics/) is enjoying a second life as a funny meme. Last week, the rapper unleashed a fiery verse that became an instant hit at the [BET Hip-Hop Awards](http://time.com/4977218/eminem-freestyle-trump-bet-hip-hop-awards/) earning high praise, staunch criticism and a response from _Saturday Night Live’s_ President Trump character. In the politically charged diss, he hammers [Trump](http://time.com/4978126/trump-eminem-endorsement/) for the government response to devastation in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, and the violence in Charlottesville, but now the internet has a much more humorous take on one clip. [Eminem’s](http://time.com/4978179/daisy-ridley-eminem/) video opens on a parking garage where Eminem pauses, wondering how to start. “It’s the calm before the storm right here. Wait, how was I gonna start this off? I forgot,” Eminem began the four-minute clip. Marshall Mathers was musing about his blistering freestyle rap. He was not deciding what to order at a restaurant or a bunch of other imaginative captions the internet ran with. Come up with a relatable situation that everyone needs a minute to think about, and that’s how you know you’re getting the maximum potential out of this moment. The results are highly amusing: > [](https://twitter.com/RodriguezDaGod/status/919719920614674432) It took off from there. > [](https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/920033933311451137) > [](https://twitter.com/NotAgainBen/status/920031307685605376) > [](https://twitter.com/s%5Fphia%5F/status/919770159421755393) > [](https://twitter.com/LeKingJames23/status/919747937143472130) Watch the full video below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4985439/eminem-trump-meme/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4985439/eminem-trump-meme/"},"headline":"Eminem's Anti-Trump Rap Video Is the Only Awkward Pause Meme the Internet Ever Needs","datePublished":"2017-10-17T14:14:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:03.537Z","description":"Eminem's rap about Donald Trump has become a hilarious meme about awkward pauses.","url":"https://time.com/4985439/eminem-trump-meme/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Music","viral","Eminem","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d19da9a83c04820/6988e17b656a3fd8c1bd20bd/eminem-mtv-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d19da9a83c04820/6988e17b656a3fd8c1bd20bd/eminem-mtv-awards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2014 MTV Movie Awards - Show","caption":"2014 MTV Movie Awards - Show","creditText":"Christopher Polk—Getty Images for MTV","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4985439/eminem-trump-meme/","name":"Eminem's Anti-Trump Rap Video Is the Only Awkward Pause Meme the Internet Ever Needs"}}]}] ```