Last week, a story from the website Dailynews11.com claiming that rapper Eminem is planning to move to the East Valley suburb began making the rounds of Facebook.
In the dubious piece, which has gotten a bit of attention on social media by Valley residents, the rap star is supposedly quoted as saying he’s grown weary of living in Los Angeles and wants to kick it in a city where the people are more “real.”
Here’s what Mr. Marshall Mathers supposedly had to say on the subject:
"I’m just tired of the L.A. lifestyle and I feel like, at this point in my life, I’d rather just live in a place full of real, genuine people. I’ve been to Chandler, Arizona a couple of times over the years and the people there are real…they’re genuine, and yeah every community has its problems but the people there are good, decent people and they care about their community. Those are the things I find most important in deciding where to live."Here’s the kicker, yo: the same quote appears almost word-for-word in hundreds of other recent articles reporting that famous musicians and actors are planning to move to some far-flung destination to get away from the madness of LA Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine, for instance, is purportedly relocating to Elkhart, Indiana, while Lady Gaga is supposedly buying a home in rural British Columbia and Pink is allegedly moving to Australia.
In fact, there have been several other stories using the quote that claim that Eminem is also planning to take up residence in Maryland, Texas, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Florida, and Arkansas. It inevitably leads us to ask, will the real Slim Shady please stand up and tell us where he’s living these days.
In all seriousness, all of these articles are merely Internet pranks, according to hoax-busting folks at Snopes-like website That’s Fake. Additionally, if you were to dig a little bit on each of the sites featuring these articles, such as Dailynews11.com, you’ll find a disclaimer stating that most of its articles are “satire or pure fantasy.”
Many Valley residents have fallen for the Eminem hoax, however, as evidenced by the following posts on social media.
EMINEM IS MOVING TO CHANDLER!!! WTF!? Welp... there goes my chances of ever being the dopest emcee in AZ! Daaamn! https://t.co/VjVbb6UQAI
— TheRealExplicit (@ItsExplicit) May 2, 2016
