Barbara Streisand revealed that not only did she present Eminem's award for "Best Original Song" at the 2003 Oscars for "Lose Yourself," she actually voted for the 8 Mile anthem in that category. Eminem's surprise performance of "Lose Yourself" at the Oscars on Sunday night caught plenty of people off guard and sparked major confusion. While it was certainly unexpected, his performance was framed as a celebration of how songs have defined the films for which they were written over time, since Em notably won the Oscar for "Best Original Song" 17 years prior to this year's Academy Awards.
On Monday, Em shared a clip of the moment he was announced as the winner of "Best Original Song" back in 2003, an award he wasn't able to accept in person since he was so convinced he wouldn't win that he didn't even attend the ceremony. In the caption of the video, in which Barbara Streisand presented the award to one of Em's co-writers for "Lose Yourself," Luis Resto, Em wrote, "Look, if you had another shot, another opportunity... Thanks for having me @theacademy. Sorry it took me 18 years to get here."
Barbara reposted the video on her own Instagram account, and revealed in the caption that she actually played a larger role in getting Eminem that Oscar that he ever knew.
"@eminem I had voted for your song too!" Barbara wrote. "Was really looking forward to handing you the award. Next time!" While he wasn't able to bask in his victory back then, Em has shared that this year's performance was his opportunity do just that. "I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool," he noted.