--- title: People Were Confused by Eminem at the 2020 Oscars description: The rapper's performance of "Lose Yourself" had audience members and viewers at home checking the calendar for what year it is. canonical: https://time.com/5780916/eminem-2020-oscars/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-02-10T03:07:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T19:37:21.000Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Everyone Was Very Confused by Eminem’s Performance at the 2020 Oscars og:description: "Wait, what year is it?" og:url: https://time.com/5780916/eminem-2020-oscars/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt207ea255247d256e/698a09ff09208f774a4164b1/GettyImages-1205158935.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 92nd Annual Academy Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everyone Was Very Confused by Eminem’s Performance at the 2020 Oscars twitter:description: "Wait, what year is it?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt207ea255247d256e/698a09ff09208f774a4164b1/GettyImages-1205158935.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Everyone Was Very Confused by Eminem’s Performance at the 2020 Oscars by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:37 PM UTCPublished: Feb 10, 2020 3:07 AM UTC  HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: 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) HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: 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)Getty Images—2020 Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:37 PM UTCPublished: Feb 10, 2020 3:07 AM UTC Eminem’s surprise performance of his hit song “Lose Yourself” at the [92nd Annual Academy Awards](https://time.com/5774472/everything-to-know-2020-oscars/) confused pretty much everyone watching the broadcast Sunday night. The expressions on director Martin Scorsese and his daughter Francesca’s faces encapsulated the general mood. > [](https://twitter.com/stevensantos/status/1226695630472404992) Others in the audience bobbed their heads and danced along to Eminem’s performance, or looked on in confusion. > [](https://twitter.com/WorldofIsaac/status/1226696376941236225) People following the show online registered shock; the rapper was not involved in any of the nominated movies this year, and it was unclear why he was singing a nearly two-decade-old song at the 2020 Oscars. > [](https://twitter.com/BilgeEbiri/status/1226694956007510016) > [](https://twitter.com/carolineframke/status/1226695025234522112) > [](https://twitter.com/kvanaren/status/1226695050123452419) > [](https://twitter.com/jawnita/status/1226694977427836930) Eminem performed at the 2020 Oscars to make up for missing the ceremony in 2003, when “Lose Yourself” won Best Original Song for the 2002 film _8 Mile_, according to a tweet from the rapper. > [](https://twitter.com/Eminem/status/1226696371329171457) In an [interview](https://variety.com/2020/music/news/eminem-oscar-academy-awards-lose-yourself-exclusive-interview-1203500085/) with _Variety_ published Monday, Eminem said he had not expected to win the Oscar and stayed home with his daughter on the night of the ceremony. His keyboardist and collaborator, Luis Resto, accepted the award, bestowed by Barbra Streisand, in Eminem’s place. “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,” the rapper said. Though he had been asked to perform “Lose Yourself” at the Oscars that year, Eminem said he felt it wouldn’t be a good idea because he’d recently performed it at the 2003 Grammy Awards. He added, “And also, back at the at time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5780916/eminem-2020-oscars/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5780916/eminem-2020-oscars/"},"headline":"Everyone Was Very Confused by Eminem’s Performance at the 2020 Oscars","datePublished":"2020-02-10T03:07:43.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T19:37:21.000Z","description":"\"Wait, what year is it?\"","url":"https://time.com/5780916/eminem-2020-oscars/","keywords":["awards"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt207ea255247d256e/698a09ff09208f774a4164b1/GettyImages-1205158935.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt207ea255247d256e/698a09ff09208f774a4164b1/GettyImages-1205158935.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"92nd Annual Academy Awards - Show","caption":"92nd Annual Academy Awards - Show","creditText":"Getty Images—2020 Getty Images","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":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5780916/eminem-2020-oscars/","name":"Everyone Was Very Confused by Eminem’s Performance at the 2020 Oscars"}}]}] ```