Kala Brown: Woman saved from serial killer reacts to Eminem reference on new album Kamikaze
Rapper has been criticised for several controversial moments on his new record
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Kala Brown, the only known survivor of serial killer Todd Kohlhepp, has responded to being name-checked in a new track by Eminem on his new album Kamikaze.
"The Ringer", which is the opening song on the record, includes the line: "I'm off the chain like Kala Brown."
Brown was discovered chained by her neck inside a metal shipping container on Kohlhepp's 96-acre property in Woodruff, South Carolina, two months after going missing.
Following her rescue she said she was raped "everyday, twice a day" and said she saw Kohlhepp shoot and kill her boyfriend, Charles David Carver.
Kohlhepp, who was arrested on the same day Brown was rescued, admitted to killing seven people, including the three whose bodies were found buried on his property. In 2017, as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, he pleaded guilty to seven counts of murder and received seven consecutive life sentences, with no possibility of parole.
"Given we fully know and understand Eminem's style of rap music, it can come off as a little unnerving, but she [Brown] does not want to take offence or feel as if he is attacking her personally," Brown's representative said.
"Everyone expresses themselves in their own way, and if anything, people will always feel a flash of Kala's struggle when hearing that line."
The line attracted some controversy when it was first heard, although not as much as other moments on the album, such as Eminem's use of the homophobic slur "faggot" when referring to fellow rapper Tyler, the Creator.
Among his most high-profile critics was Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds, who has been a vocal campaigner for LGBT+ rights.
Posting on Twitter, Reynolds said: "It's never OK to say a word that is filled with hate. I don't care what year you were born in or what meaning it has to you. If it contributes to hate and bigotry then it is hateful. Period."
He added: "There is never an OK time to say the word fa**ot. I don't care who you are."
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