Eminem’s NFL Lookalike Joe Burrow Draws Slim Shady Comparisons

Posted on by EDITORIAL FEATURES

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow channeled his inner Slim Shady by unveiling a new hairstyle on Tuesday (July 23). The NFL star showed up to training camp with a bleach-blonde buzz cut, prompting fans to crown him the new Slim Shady.


Burrow’s name was the No. 1 trending topic on X (formerly known as Twitter) solely off his new look. The Bengals social media team played up the Eminem comparisons with “Guess who’s back?” captions on X and Instagram posts.

Fans and other social media managers couldn’t resist comparing Burrow to Eminem. Slim Shady, Slim Shiesty (a play on Burrow’s Joe Shiesty nickname) and Joe Shady cracked the Top 25 trending topics on X.

Eminem’s Slim Shady persona garnered renewed attention thanks to the release of The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce). Eminem’s latest album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It was his 11th No. 1 album of his career.

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The Death of Slim Shady ended Taylor Swift’s 12-week run atop the Billboard 200. Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department was one week away from tying a record set by Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, which spent its first 13 weeks at No. 1 on the chart.

Eminem “killed off” Slim Shady on his new album. Some listeners disputed Slim Shady’s “death” based on their interpretations of the project. Diehard fans proposed alternative ways to listen to the album, but Eminem urged his supporters to listen to The Death of Slim Shady from beginning to end.

“Public service announcement: the ‘death of slim shady’ is a conceptual album, therefore, if you listen to songs out of order they might not make sense,” he wrote before its release. “Enjoy.”

The Death of Slim Shady featured collaborations with JID, Big Sean, Babytron, Jelly Roll, Skylar Grey, Shady Records artist Ez Mil and more. Eminem produced the album with Dr. Dre, Don Cannon and Fredwreck, among other contributors.