VIDEO: Why did Eminem perform Lose Yourself at the Oscars 2020?

11 February 2020, 23:28 | Updated: 11 February 2020, 23:31

The rapper gave a surprise performance of the soundtrack to his 2002 film 8 Mile at this year's Academy Awards. Find out why.

The 92nd Academy Awards took place last night (Sunday 9 February), which offered up performances featuring the likes of Elton John and Billie Eilish.

However, the most surprising performance of the night undoubtedly came from Eminem, who played his 2002 hit Lose Yourself to a slightly bemused audience.

Watch a snippet of the moment above.

Many fans took to social media to remark on the event, which saw the rapper to rap a rendition to his famous soundtrack to the film 8 Mile.

However, there was a reason why Eminem performed the almost two-decade old track. Find out why here...

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Why did Eminem perform at the 2020 Oscars?

Eminem was invited to perform the track because he was unable to do so back in 2003, when it actually won the award for Best Original Song.

There were several reasons cited for Eminem's absence at the time. According to Variety, it was rumoured that Eminem didn't want to attend the show because he refused to perform a censored version of the track, while others said he simply didn't think he would win.

People Magazine even suggested US rapper was snoozing with his daughter Hailie watching cartoons instead.

Watch Lose Yourself win the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2003:

"Lose Yourself" winning Best Original Song Oscar®

Whatever his reason for not attending at the time, Eminem lost out on the chance to celebrate his success, and instead co-writer Luis Resto collected the award.

However, it looks like the Oscars organisers decided to give him another chance at being recognised.

Taking to Twitter after his performance, Eminem - whose real name is Marshal Mathers - seemed to confirm he'd been given "another shot" at celebrating picking up the prestigious prize.

Sharing the video of Barbra Streisand announcing him as a winner back in 2003, he wrote: "Look, if you had another shot, another opportunity... Thanks for having me @TheAcademy. Sorry it took me 18 years to get here."

Now, speaking in an exclusive interview with Variety, citing why the performance took place, Eminem said: "I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool. Back then, I never even thought that I had a chance to win, and we had just performed Lose Yourself on the Grammys with the Roots a couple of weeks before the Oscars, so we didn’t think it was a good idea. And also, back at that time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me.

"But then when I found out I won, 'That’s crazy!' That to me shows how authentic and real that award is — when you don’t show up and you still win. That makes it very real to me."

Asked if he was disappointed not to win at the time, he said: "I don’t know that I was disappointed, I was blown back by the fact that I won. 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."

Asked to clear up what he was doing the night he won the award, Eminem clarified: "I think I was just at home with my daughter — and I didn’t watch it, either. At that point in time Hailie had to be at school early in the morning, so [I was sleeping]."

Parasite: Everything you need to know about Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning film

This year's Oscars saw Elton John and Bernie Taupin finally win an Oscar together - taking home the award for Best Original Song for (I'm Gonna) Love Me Again from Rocketman.

The famous piano man previously won an Oscar with Tim Rice for Can You Feel The Love Tonight from The Lion King in 1995.

The most historic moment of the night came from Parasite - which became the first ever foreign language film to win the Best Picture prize and took home four prizes in all.

See the big Oscars 2020 winners:

Best picture

Parasite

Best actress

Renée Zellweger, Judy

Best actor

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Best supporting actress

Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Best supporting actor

Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Achievement in directing

Bong Joon-ho, Parasite

See the full list of winners here