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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
David McLean

The time Eminem threw 'baby' from Glasgow hotel window

Glasgow has bore witness to many bonkers moments in music history down the decades, but few as bizarre as the time Eminem threw a 'baby' in the air from a hotel window.

Back in June 2003, the hip hop legend, who has made a career out of dissing other musicians, was staying at the Arthouse Hotel at 129 Bath Street when he attempted to emulate an infamous incident involving Michael Jackson.

The previous November, Jackson had made headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons after dangling his then nine-month-old son, Prince Michael II, nicknamed "Blanket", from the balcony of a hotel in Berlin.

READ MORE: Tour Glasgow's Hampden Park through the years including 1990s major revamp

And Eminem, fresh from performing a sell-out show in front of 40,000 at Hampden Park the night before, couldn't resist poking fun at the Thriller star.

Much to the delight of his Glasgow fans gathered below, the American rapper appeared at his Arthouse Hotel (now the ABode Glasgow Hotel) window wearing a black and white tracksuit, and a surgical face mask, and carrying a baby doll, the face of which was shrouded in a blanket.

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Eminem, then aged 30, then proceeded to throw the doll in the air and pretended to drop it from the balcony - clearly aping the Berlin incident involving Jacko.

Some fans were initially alarmed as they thought the baby was real, but it was soon obvious that it was a toy doll.

The star, real name Marshall Mathers, then saluted the adoring masses with a clenched-fist before heading back into his room.

Earlier that day, Eminem, who was in the middle of the British leg of his Anger Management world tour, had asked hotel bosses to black out his windows so he could get some much-needed kip.

At the time, his June 24, 2003 show at Hampden Park was the fastest-selling gig in Scottish history, with fans purchasing all 40,000 tickets within under 40 minutes of them going on sale.

Chief exec of DF Concerts, Geoff Ellis, hailed the "phenomenal" rate at which the tickets had been snapped up.

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