Charges Against Eminem Dropped, Alleged Victim Withdraws Allegations That Rapper Punched Him At Strip Club

July 14, 2006

Eminem performs at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Rome on Nov. 18, 2004. (AP)

(CBS) Eminem's alleged victim in a strip club brawl has decided not to press charges against the rapper.

Detroit Police spokesman James Tate said Monday that a 48-year-old man withdrew assault charges against the rapper for unknown reasons, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Last week, Detroit Police confirmed to ShowBuzz that they were investigating a fight at a strip club on Detroit's west side that allegedly involved the rapper, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III.

The alleged victim, a 48-year-old man identified as Miad J. by WXYZ, Detroit's ABC affiliate, said he was punched in the face four or five times by Mathers while using the men's room at the strip club Cheetah at around 1:15 a.m. last Thursday.

In an interview with WXYZ, Miad said he was using a urinal next to Mathers, when another man, an overzealous fan, entered the men's room and started to talk to the rapper.

Mathers' bodyguard, who was also in the restroom, took umbrage with the fan and told him to be quiet. Miad said he then asked the bodyguard to relax and ease up on the awestruck man.

"Eminem got done and boom," Miad, who lives in Royal Oak, Mich., told WXYZ. "He started swinging. I wasn't even expecting it."

The Free Press also said Cheetah's representatives confirmed a fight occurred at the club and that Mathers was involved in the incident, but they refused to elaborate.

Miad insisted it was the rapper who hit him, leaving a welt on the side of his face that was visible during his on-camera interview with WXYZ.

After throwing several punches, Miad said Mathers left the club and Cheetah's bouncers threw the rapper's bodyguards out.

The WXYZ report also quotes witnesses who claim to have seen a member of the rapper's entourage brandish a gun.

Mathers, who says he yearns for a private life and has kept a low profile in Detroit in recent years, is no stranger to run-ins with the law. In 2000, he was arrested twice the same day for two separate gun-related incidents in the Macomb and Oakland counties of Michigan. The arrests resulted in a three-year probation sentence, which ended in 2003.

Most recently, the rapper made his first on-stage appearance at the BET Awards since rumors of his retirement began to catch fire in the fall of 2005.

By Milosh Marinovich
�MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.