Update: Eminem Explains Why He Returned to the Oscars After Refusing to Perform 17 Years Ago

Update: Eminem has revealed to Variety why he decided to perform at the 2020 Academy Awards 17 years after he declined to attend in 2003, missing his chance to accept his Oscar.

"Back then [in 2003], I never even thought that I had a chance to win, and we had just performed 'Lose Yourself' on the Grammys with the Roots a couple of weeks before the Oscars, so we didn’t think it was a good idea. And also, back at that time, the younger me didn’t really feel like a show like that would understand me," the rapper explained. "But then when I found out I won, 'That’s crazy!' That to me shows how authentic and real that award is — when you don’t show up and you still win. That makes it very real to me."

In 2017, Justin Timberlake gave an energetic performance of “Can’t Stop the Feeling," and since then ABC Entertainment VP Rob Mills has sought to make high-energy musical performances a regular part of the Oscars broadcast. Last year's show saw Queen featuring Adam Lambert perform “We Will Rock You" in promotion of Best Picture nominee Bohemian Rhapsody. For this year's show, the stars aligned for Eminem's performance to finally take place, as it had been something they've been wanting to do for a long time.

“It’s something we’ve talked about for years,” Mills explained to Variety. “Because ['Lose Yourself'] was one of the great film anthems of all time, and anthems all together. But it’s one that [Eminem] never performed on the Oscars. After Justin opened the show with ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling,’ you saw how a number like that can really inject some energy into the show.”

Part of the reason Eminem agreed to finally perform his hit song at the Oscars was because he had an extra incentive.

"[Performing as the Oscars] was cool because we just put out an album, so we said maybe that’ll make sense with the timing of the new album," Eminem said.

The original story is below.

Almost two decades ago, Eminem won an Oscar for the song "Lose Yourself," from the Curtis Hanson movie he starred in, 8 Mile.

He didn't, however, attend the 2003 Academy Awards ceremony after being nominated, and was reportedly asleep when Barbra Streisand read his name aloud on TV, as the winner of the Best Original Song award.

This year, after Hamilton creator/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda introduced a montage of famous movie songs (which featured Eminem's movie character B-Rabbit walking out toward a stage), Eminem arrived live and in-person to perform "Lose Yourself."

Here's Eminem, Marshall Mathers himself, tweeting about his surprise performance...

Look, if you had another shot, another opportunity... Thanks for having me @TheAcademy. Sorry it took me 18 years to get here. pic.twitter.com/CmSw2hmcZo
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) February 10, 2020

Earlier in the evening, Taika Waititi made history after winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit.

Click here to see the full list of Oscar nominees and winners.

Oscar Record Holders

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.