“Segway” Jeremy Ryan: “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.”
A little more than a week ago, a strange email appeared in the inboxes of several media outlets.
Someone using the address MMathers@shadyrecords.com was claiming that rap star Eminem — whose real name is Marshall Mathers — had endorsed Jeremy Ryan in his quixotic bid for Congress.
Ryan, better known as the Capitol protester “Segway” Jeremy Ryan, is running as a Republican for the seat now held by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (no relation).
His campaign is as outlandish as his protest tactics — he’s posted “Drunk High Politics” videos on YouTube, in which he discusses politics while clearly inebriated.
In a press release under the Shady Records logo, Eminem purportedly made his first political endorsement. “Our country is in a state of crisis,” the release quotes Eminem. “Jeremy Ryan is a rare candidate so undeniably different that I felt compelled to endorse his campaign.”
Most media outlets ignored the announcement, but Madison TV station NBC15 posted a story about it on its website July 7. Its story noted “This is Eminem’s first political endorsement and comes as his music has taken a political shift since the 2016 election.”
The NBC15 story quickly made it around social media with a few dozen of Jeremy Ryan’s supporters sharing it on Facebook and commenting with expletive-filled congratulations. On Twitter, a longtime Milwaukee TV reporter shared the NBC15 story, as did a couple of Democratic operatives, one snarkily tweeting “I can’t stand this game sometimes, y’all.”
By early evening July 7, the NBC15 story had disappeared and the station scrubbed all mention of it from its social media accounts. “We reported the press release prematurely. We should have verified it first,” says NBC15 news director Jessica Laszewski. “When we realized we hadn’t done that, we immediately took the story down to review its legitimacy.”
The story was too good to be true. On July 10, Dennis Dennehy of Interscope Records (Eminem’s parent label), confirmed to Isthmus that the endorsement is “completely untrue.”
“If there was a press release on Eminem endorsing anything it would have come from me, so I know this one is a flat-out fake,” Dennehy says.
But where did the endorsement come from? Ryan admits he was trying to get Eminem’s endorsement, but insists the bogus press release didn’t come from him.
On the Saturday that the news broke, Ryan told Isthmus that he had doubts about it being legit. “I want it to be real more than anyone,” he said in a Facebook chat. “Could be a game changer and decide the whole race.”
Two copies of the bogus release were sent out, one with a woman’s name and number on it, the other without.
Dennehy confirmed that the woman used to work at the record label, but said she’s not behind the hoax.
When told the endorsement wasn’t legit, Ryan sounded disappointed and questioned who could be so shady. “Who would have gone to such lengths to do this? My guess is that it’s someone trying to discredit me,” he says.
Ryan has tried to get other celebrities like former quarterback Colin Kaepernick and actor Seth Rogen to back his campaign, but hasn’t landed anyone yet. He puts his odds at winning the crowded Republican primary at “15 to 20 percent.”
“I’m going to keep trying for endorsements and whatnot,” Ryan says. “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Dennehy says the bogus news release is being investigated. “Not sure how all this started but Eminem’s lawyers are on the case,” he says.
