Will the real “Shady” please stand up?
Rappers and Real Housewives are two camps accustomed to big jewelry, verbally destroying their peers, and legal disputes but rarely do the two worlds converge.
But The Real Housewives of Potomac stars/Green-Eyed Bandits Gizelle Bryant and Robyn Dixon are now in a trademark battle with Oscar-winning curmudgeon and noted lyrical assassin Eminem.
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Eminem, Robyn Dixon and Gizelle Bryant.KURT KRIEGER/CORBIS VIA GETTY; RICH POLK/BRAVO VIA GETTY
Earlier this year, Page Six reported that Bryant and Dixon filed to trademark their podcast’s name, Reasonably Shady, which Eminem quickly opposed, claiming his own brand would be “damaged” and that two Shady brands would “cause confusion in the minds of consumers.”
Fans of the 51-year-old rapper, real name Marshall Mathers, have known him as Slim Shady and Shady since at least his 1999 breakthrough second studio album, The Slim Shady LP. Eminem also owns the trademark to “Shady” for use on merchandise.
Housewives are never ones to shy away from a fight, so Bryant and Dixon asked for Eminem’s opposition to their trademark to be denied. The rapper’s lawyers then claimed the Potomac podcasters “remain insistent on deposing” their client and are now seeking “a protective order precluding the deposition of Marshall Mathers.”
Eminem’s lawyers also argued that it would be “unduly burdensome” if he were to appear in court and claimed he has a “limited knowledge of the subjects at issue.” Which is basically the legal version of “I don’t know her.”
Bryant and Dixon started their Reasonably Shady podcast in 2021 and it became the center of a controversy in the Real Housewives multiverse when Dixon admitted on a pod episode she knew about her husband’s alleged infidelity ahead of shooting season 7 of the reality show.
In an interview with Dixon on Watch What Happens Live, Housewives whisperer Andy Cohen said she “withheld the truth” and then sold it “behind a paywall.” Meanwhile, Dixon’s marital issues and her subsequent withholding of the truth are currently playing out on the current season of The Real Housewives of Potomac.
It’s doubtful, however, that Eminem will make a cameo
