Haley Joel Osment Defends Kendrick Lamar After Confusing “Euphoria” Bar

Haley Joel Osment being a talking point in a 2024 rap battle was not on anybody’s bingo board. The actor was referenced by name on Kendrick Lamar‘s diss track “Euphoria.” Well, kind of. Lamar clearly references Osment, and the films he starred in as a child, but he seemingly confuses him with someone else. The someone being pastor Joel Osteen. “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI? N**ga feelin’ like Joel Osteen,” Lamar raps. “Funny, he was in a film called AI. And my sixth sense tellin’ me to off him.” Fans have tried to make sense of the reference, and Osment has finally given his two cents on the matter.

Haley Joel Osment talked about “Euphoria” during a recent AP interview. He made it clear that he doesn’t think Kendrick Lamar made a mistake with regards to his name. Osment’s reasoning? Lamar is too sharp a wordsmith to be that sloppy. “The way I’ve heard people talk about that and certain analysis that I’ve read about it,” he explained. “I think that it’s an intentional scrambling of my name and that other guy’s name because Kendrick’s too precise to just make a mistake like that, I think.” Haley Joel Osment does admit he could be wrong, but is confident in the rapper’s abilities. “I think he’s too precise,” he added. “I mean, I don’t know for sure and I’m not going to assume that he knows my exact name.”

Haley Joel Osment loved the reference. He was shooting a film in Ireland when “Euphoria” dropped, and was subsequently bombarded with messages from friends. “[I] got like a hundred texts in the middle of the night,” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘What is going on?!'” Haley Joel Osment isn’t the only Sixth Sense alum who is a K. Dot fan.

M. Night Shyamalan, the film’s director, talked about the “honor” of being referenced multiple times by the rapper. Not only does the film get a shout out on “Euphoria,” but Lamar quotes the iconic line “I see dead people” at the start of “Not Like Us.” “Someone in the office was like, ‘Oh, Kendrick just dropped something and it references one of your [movies],” Shyamalan told the Breakfast Club. “We kind of lightly know each other, and I did know [he was a fan]. He’s very gracious with me, and I love him.”