A movie trip to see Eminem’s latest documentary turned into an unexpected viral moment for one man on TikTok.
The clip posted on August 8 has racked up over 206,000 views. In it, Rekai, 27 (@rekaisaidso), stares into the camera with wide eyes after sitting down in the theater to watch Stans. His hair was short and dyed peroxide blonde—the rapper’s signature look during the late 90s and early 2000s. “I shouldn’t have dyed my hair blond beforehand,” the video’s caption read.
Stans, coproduced by Eminem, explores the lives of some of his most-devoted fans and takes its name from the rapper’s 2000 hit “Stan,” about an obsessive admirer. The film screened globally in select theaters on August 7 for one weekend only.
Newsweek spoke to Rekai, a visual-effects artist from London, in the U.K., who said: “I listen to Eminem’s music casually, but I’m not a Stan by any means.”
What Is a Stan?
A 2024 YouGov survey found Eminem to be the most popular among his peers, with a 54 percent positive rating—placing him ahead of Pharrell Williams (47 percent) and Ludacris (46 percent). Eminem is particularly favored by Gen Z adults and millennials, with 68 percent from each group viewing him positively. Two in five fans come from lower- (41 percent) or middle-income households (39 percent), and 40 percent are married without children.
However, there is a difference between enjoying an artist’s music and embracing every aspect of their persona—a distinction captured in his 2000 song “Stan.” In the dictionary, “Stan” describes someone who admires a celebrity to an unusual degree. Forbes traced the term back to Eminem’s collaboration with Dido, a track that cemented the image of the devoted superfan in pop culture.
Rekai said that he has had blonde hair on and off for around 10 years, but, this time, the timing couldn’t have been worse.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, the Real Slim Shady’s peroxide hair, white T-shirt, and baggy jeans became an iconic look—so much so that fans often copied it at his concerts. Eminem has even filled his sets with look-alikes, from the MTV VMAs in the 2000s to the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.
TikTok Reacts
The clip has already racked up more than 26,000 likes and nearly 100 comments, many filled with sarcasm and jokes.
“Did anyone think you was him?” asked one user, and Rekai joked: “Yeah so many people came and asked me for autographs.”
“Nothing can beat 8 mile,” noted another user, referring to Eminem’s musical drama released in 2002.
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