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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →When Marshall Mathers was nine, his mother sued his school over alleged repeated beatings and head injuries. Later reporting named classmate DeAngelo Bailey as the alleged bully, and Eminem revisited the episode in “Brain Damage.” But the available accounts do not establish that Mathers was put in a coma or nearly died: Salon explicitly noted that the 1982 lawsuit made no mention of a coma.
What happened to Eminem when he was 9?
In a 2000 profile, Salon’s M.L. Elrick reported that Mathers, later known as Eminem, was a student at Dort Elementary School when he suffered what the article described as a series of beatings. The profile identified DeAngelo Bailey as the classmate accused and described alleged attacks at recess and in a restroom, as well as a heavy snowball that reportedly caused a serious head injury. These are allegations recounted in later reporting, not findings established by the materials available here. Salon’s 2000 profile provides the account.
![Music To Be Murdered By [Edited]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41RUq+qrK2L._SL160_.jpg)
![Music To Be Murdered By [Explicit]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/510-zOTKy2L._SL160_.jpg)
In 1982, Mathers’s mother filed a lawsuit against the school, according to both Salon and The Smoking Gun. The Smoking Gun’s account says the complaint alleged repeated beatings during the four months he attended Dort Elementary, along with a cerebral concussion and post-traumatic headaches. Salon also summarized symptoms alleged in the lawsuit: headaches, post-concussion syndrome, intermittent loss of vision and hearing, nightmares, nausea, and social effects. The Smoking Gun’s 2003 report focuses on the legal complaint.
Did a bully put Eminem in a coma?
The sources cited here do not establish that Mathers was in a coma. Salon specifically said the 1982 lawsuit made no mention of one. The dramatic claim that the bullying “almost cost Eminem his life” is therefore not a conclusion supported by the lawsuit summary or the reporting presented here. The reported injuries and symptoms should not be conflated with a coma or a documented near-death diagnosis.
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![Music To Be Murdered By - Side B (Deluxe Edition) [2 CD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41iRfxBeIcL._SL160_.jpg)
- Eminem is back with "Music To Be Murdered By - Side B" Deluxe Edition
What did the lawsuit decide?
Salon reported that the school case was dismissed in 1983, with the judge relying on school immunity. The Smoking Gun likewise said the complaint was dismissed on governmental-immunity grounds. That reported procedural outcome does not establish that the alleged bullying did or did not occur; it is not a factual ruling resolving every allegation.
How did the story become “Brain Damage”?
Eminem later named Bailey in “Brain Damage,” a song on The Slim Shady LP. The song is an artistic retelling, not a medical record or independent proof of the events. Salon’s profile quoted Bailey reflecting on his former bullying of Mathers: “Damn, that must have scarred him for life.” It is a remark reported in that 2000 profile, not a judicial admission or a medical assessment.
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What happened after the song?
The Smoking Gun reported that Bailey filed a $1 million lawsuit in August 2001, claiming defamation and reputational harm over the song. The available account establishes that the suit was filed, but not its final disposition. It should be treated as a separate legal case from the school lawsuit brought by Mathers’s mother.
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