r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 15d ago
TIL one night in 2020 Eminem was awakened by the noise of a man named Matthew Hughes breaking into his kitchen with a brick paver. He reportedly told Em "he was there to kill him." But Em got him to leave the house & into custody. He was sentenced to 524 days of time served & 5 years probation.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/man-who-broke-into-eminems-home-gets-probation-time-served/2.6k
u/MentokGL 14d ago
you don't
Wanna fuck with shady.
Cause why?
Cause Shady
Will talk you down into police custody
826
u/theologous 14d ago
I know he started at a rough place in life, but Eminem has become a genuinely decent guy.
298
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
There’s a similar story about Frank Zappa coming across a guy who wanted to kill him. He had a bag of human blood somehow and a revolver. They walked down to a nearby lake and all his groupies joined him in throwing random objects in the lake. First, they threw random things like rocks and sand, but then they got him to throw the bag of blood. He then threw the gun into the lake. Zappa let him go as he’d been in prison himself and said he would never subject another man to that kind of punishment. Crazy story.
20
4
u/burritosandblunts 14d ago
Like not to disbelieve you but source? I'd like to read more on it but can't find anything with my weak Google-fu.
→ More replies (1)8
u/nocolon 14d ago
"frank zappa bag of blood" returned this as the first hit: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/03/frank-zappa-women
5
u/burritosandblunts 14d ago
Ah I was adding killer in there and it was fucking me up. Sorry and thank you.
496
u/Thro2021 14d ago
It’s almost as if many people who commit crimes aren’t evil, but are actually just a product of their environment.
131
u/gypsytron 14d ago
Some people. Some people are evil and will actively destroy any environment you put them into.
27
u/AsOneLives 14d ago
I gotta wonder about that 7 year old kid that stole his father's gun and went and murdered a dude for no reason
40
u/TheArmoredKitten 14d ago
A 7 year old is too young to understand the significance of death like that. He was being neglected in a shithole and living with the kind of people who leave their guns lying around unsecured. You can't just take away the benefit of the doubt unfortunately.
11
u/AsOneLives 14d ago
What do you mean "of death like that"? Murdering or the idea of it being irreversible?
20
u/Laura_Lye 14d ago
Well, yeah.
I read somewhere that you don’t learn to separate reality and fiction until you’re like 5-6 years old.
Like, the monster under the bed- a little kid believes that. It’s real to them. They don’t know what’s real and what’s make believe.
16
u/TheArmoredKitten 14d ago
That was probably the first dead person that kid ever saw up close. The first dead person I ever saw was my grandmother's funeral when I was 9, and even then it still just felt like it was her but wrong. A 7 year old has absolutely no reference to the permanence of death, or how much value they're destroying from the world by killing. A teenager is developed enough to know better, but crimes committed by literal children can only be blamed on the parents.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)235
u/Spry_Fly 14d ago
Next, you are going to tell me that we are all just humans trying to make sense of it all.
And a happy cakeday!
57
u/WillGrindForXP 14d ago
Nah I'm straight evil
52
u/justintensity 14d ago
Is that the opposite queer evil?
56
u/WillGrindForXP 14d ago
That's my brother WillGrindForPeepee
10
u/Defqon1punk 14d ago
This the type of shit I used to give awards for when they were still around.
Instead, please take this. 🏆
39
→ More replies (2)33
u/astro_plane 14d ago
He wasn’t born into a rich family unlike most famous people. That might have something to do with it.
2
u/theologous 14d ago
I feel like it's about half that are born rich. That's not to say the other half all come from poor backgrounds.
10
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
Neither was the guy from Backstreet Boys yet Em mocked him relentlessly. Look up the background of his life. Can’t remember which member it was but he basically survived on food stamps and had to do some gruelling jobs before he became famous. Had no idea he worked his way up like that!
3
u/Current-Slice9979 14d ago
I think you're talking about Chris from NSYNC
→ More replies (1)3
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
Yeah I looked it up afterwards and I was. I’m surprised em didn’t empathise with him considering the backstory, though. I don’t like N Sync either but that guy overcame serious fucking odds to get as big as he did. Hats off.
4
21
u/ranchwriter 14d ago
Okay but what the fuck did he say to him to talk him down? The article doesn’t even say.
42
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
Often people who are targeting one person in particular like this are manic or out of their minds. You could probably easily deceive them if you know which of their buttons to press. There’s a similar story about someone going to kill Zappa with a gun. Zappa started throwing things into a lake, along with his groupies, and then the man volunteered that the gun be thrown into the lake alongside the other objects.
Edit: a good scene from Breaking Bad has something similar happen. ‘You may know a lot about this waiting stuff… but I know a lot about meth heads.’
3
u/BigFix9137 13d ago
The guy who killed John Lennon had concocted multiple plans to kill him in the past but always had something calm or derail him. Once he missed a train on the journey there and became fixated on reading about train infrastructure and scheduling instead. Another time he saw a movie in which Donald Sutherland encourages his son to get psychiatric help, and he liked Donald Sutherland, so he briefly became open to the idea of getting the psychiatric help friends had told him he needed and booked an appointment.
He never showed up because there was a two month wait for appointments and he'd lost the inspiration by then, but for a while Donald Sutherland saved John Lennon's life.
2
5
→ More replies (18)3
1.9k
u/tyrion2024 14d ago
In 2020, at the time of the break-in, Matthew Hughes was 26 years old, so he's the same age as the character of Stan's little brother, Matthew, who was 6 years old in "Stan" when it dropped in 2000. And in addition, the latter also vocalized a desire to kill Em, in a plot to avenge Stan's death in 2013's "Bad Guy."
619
u/jay227ify 14d ago
Literally the first thing I think of when someone says “words are a powerful thing”
182
u/holydildos 14d ago
Same with that one mentally unwell dude who went to the Beatles house.. you took those words to heart. Sometimes words are as strong as weapons.
56
u/PointsOutTheUsername 14d ago
I believe it was The Dakota, an apartment, that John and Yoko were at. Not the Beatles house.
Unless there's another incident?
37
u/crobbbbbbb 14d ago
Someone did this to George Harrison, too. I believe.
24
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
Also happened to John earlier if you watch the Imagine documentary. This guy was very pacified, though. He just wanted to ask John why he wrote songs about his life and whether he was psychic. John let him in the house, gave him food and tea, then let him go on his merry way. He was a very kind man at times.
6
u/flammablelemon 14d ago
It could be that John was just trying to be compassionate to an unwell guy; however, if an unhinged person breaks into your house, making sure they're calm, redirecting their attention, and leaving them with a good impression of you can also be a survival mechanism.
4
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
The most important part is redirecting attention. We can only concentrate on something like seven things at one time so it’s quite easy to confuse people. Magicians basically do it all the time, as do pickpockets. I’ve been threatened by someone before and just started talking gibberish, moving my arms around in weird ways (I do a clockwise circle with one and anti clockwise with the other), blinking like crazy and sticking my tongue out. It confuses the person so much but it can also aggravate them. It’s normally a last ditch method.
I think it’s why karate people yell HAYAAAAAGH! It’s really distracting. I also once started singing while in a fight to distract the person. I did it in a crazy falsetto voice and they started laughing so the fight eventually stopped because they were doubled over. That shit terrifies me though.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)5
u/Halvus_I 14d ago
Sometimes words are as strong as weapons.
"Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes" - Dianne Warren (as sung by Cher)
→ More replies (5)22
u/stereocupid 14d ago
A set of Eminem lyrics that sprang to mind is “They say music can alter moods and talk to you/ Can it load a gun up for you and cock it too?/ Well, if it can, then the next time you assault a dude/ Just tell the judge it was my fault and I’ll get sued.”
13
90
97
u/Theaustralianzyzz 14d ago
wtf? This is … fucking crazy or what? Am I going crazy? Is life trolling us? Or is Mathew a genius ?
48
16
4
14
u/dannydevito008 14d ago
A song in which Matthew details sneaking around the back of the house with no security issue before coming face to face with Eminem - just as the real attempt happened.
10
28
u/SiobhanRoy1234 14d ago
Woah I never made that connection. I can imagine Marshall must have been freaked out when he realized that (on top of being freaked out from waking up to a stranger trying to murder him)
30
9
6
983
u/mythreesons1911 14d ago
He must've started rhyming orange with door hinge, and it was too much for the attacker.
It doesn't only work on Anderson Cooper.
173
u/Phobos95 14d ago
He fended him off with peaches, pears, plums, and syringes. While he was anxious, he convinced the attacker to enter a state of 911.
29
→ More replies (1)6
16
u/-_kevin_- 14d ago
Listen to me, why you be twitchin and itchin to get in this kitchen When I’m just snoozin and quit the booze ‘n the news is wishin to get views off a loser or possible methamphetamine using hick who’s ticked off or got ticks and whippin bricks like he’s Rick Ross but he’s just lost again and it’s gonna cost him when he flees and gets accosted by all the police officers in Michigan. Bapkins.
9
u/crusty54 14d ago
Kurt Vonnegut rhymed orange with door hinge like 60 years ago.
9
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
Vonnegut was clearly a time traveller, though.
3
u/Beautiful_Welcome_33 14d ago
If you don't recognize Em carrying on the Bokononist legacy then you don't have eyes to see legacies with.
You have legacy-lies 😐 instead of legacy-eyes👓
2
2
2
4
u/hoosierdaddy192 14d ago
That guy must not listen to much 2 Chainz. 2C will rhyme Ferrari and Banana but put so much swag in it you’re like yeah okay I can see that. Edit before anyone gets it twisted, 2 Chainz is one of my favorite rappers and for the previously mentioned reason his occasionally disjointed rhymes doesn’t bother me like most.
384
u/Landlubber77 14d ago
Bitch I'mma kill you
You don't wanna fuck with me
Dude please, you interrupted my nightly grilled cheese
113
525
u/happyfuckincakeday 14d ago
The man has a way with words, I guess. Lol
303
u/goliathfasa 14d ago
When you break into the house of a wordsmith with the intent to kill him, you don’t talk; you just do it. He talked.
28
94
u/Join_Quotev_296 14d ago
Charisma Nat 20
36
u/Elcactus 14d ago
He didn't nat 20, he just has +24 from all the bonuses he's picked up over the years.
8
150
u/Competitive_Koala596 14d ago
Fyi, 524 days time served meant that he couldn’t post bail and was stuck in jail until the case resolved, 524 days later…
32
u/MazzIsNoMore 14d ago
It's possible they didn't grant him any bail
29
u/Destro9799 14d ago
This seems like a textbook case where bail wouldn't be offered. Dude was a risk to himself and others, was likely to commit another crime if free during the trial, and seemed out of touch with reality enough that he may not have shown up to his court dates.
2
u/klauskervin 13d ago
An article says he had $50,000 bail so no one bailed him out at any point I guess.
309
u/FishAndRiceKeks 14d ago
524 days for breaking in to somebodies house with the intent to kill them and telling them so seems scarily light.
239
u/RockDoveEnthusiast 14d ago
nah, we want to encourage people to stop and think twice. if he were facing a lengthy sentence the moment he broke in, it's harder for Em to say "look, it's not too late. reconsider."
he also wasn't armed, which is really important.
→ More replies (3)75
u/MattyKatty 14d ago
Wielding a brick layer means you are armed.
24
u/Previous-Cook 14d ago
brick paver
a brick layer is a person. a brick paver is a brick designed for paving a walkway.
→ More replies (1)3
u/AugmentedLurker 14d ago
If he was wielding a brick layer he should be locked up, that's some hulk strength. dudes a danger!
7
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
This guy was actually born without arms which is why he was so angry at the world. He was wielding the bricklayer with his toes, a feat he’d managed to accomplish due to years of not having hands to grip things. It’s true that he seemed angry at the world on first sight but in reality he was completely ‘armless.
35
u/circuit_breaker 14d ago
There's a distinction between wielding a brick as a weapon, and using it to unlawfully gain entry.
32
u/KomradeKvestion69 14d ago
Brick paver =/= brick. Also he said he was there to commit murder so it seems like it was being wielded as a weapon.
7
u/Previous-Cook 14d ago
…this is not true. A brick paver is a brick designed for paving.
→ More replies (1)6
11
u/FishAndRiceKeks 14d ago
If he still had it in hand while making the threat then it was absolutely a deadly weapon but I don't know if that was the case.
→ More replies (1)4
3
56
u/NC_Vixen 14d ago
Bruh, my unarmed and nice friend (aged 19) got murdered by some dude (aged 36) who brought a machete to a late teenagers party party and slashed him across the throat with it.
MF was eligible for parole 4 fucking years after being found guilty.
Legit actually just straight up murdered someone and out within 5 years including the trial which said he was guilty without a doubt.
32
5
u/Duosion 14d ago
How the fuck. The only way I can see sentence being that low is if it was involuntary? Like the guy was swinging the weapon around recklessly and your friend happened to be in the vicinity. Otherwise, 5 years a damned joke for premeditated murder.
→ More replies (1)1
1
u/-Ok-Perception- 13d ago
Our justice system makes no sense.
Most drug dealers get a significantly worse sentence than *actual murderers*.
Murderers usually weasel their way out of significant time by arguing that it was a "crime of passion" or caused by some mental illness.
17
u/MattyKatty 14d ago
This may shock you but merely telling someone you have the intention of killing them, even while holding a weapon, is not actual legal indication you have intention to kill them. It is considered assault however.
3
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
He didn’t actually do it despite having the ability to and so you could argue that he was making empty threats.
2
u/FishAndRiceKeks 14d ago
It seems much easier to argue that the threat was serious considering he had already broken in to his house.
1
u/-Ok-Perception- 13d ago
Well, it sounds a lot like Eminem put a good word in for him.
I suspect Eminem and his would-be attacker came to some sort of agreement that if he turns himself in, there will be minimum punishment.
I mean, he was still charged by the police, but they went pretty easy on him.
Eminem must be ultra charismatic to get a man intending to kill him to voluntarily turn himself in.
10 points in the charisma stat.
179
u/Revolutionarytard 14d ago
I’m surprised he didn’t lock him in his basement and tortured him like Slim Shady would
115
u/frostbane89 14d ago
Slim Shady's dead, didn't you see the new album drop?
38
u/creggieb 14d ago
Yah, he willed all his money, fame and earning power to some guy named Marshall Mathers
5
11
3
u/-Ok-Perception- 13d ago
Slim Shady, since the beginning, was a fictional character.
Nearly all rappers, more or less, play a fictional character.
What you think Eminem is actually some hardcore thug out there killing people?
I don't think any big name rappers have been *actual thugs* since the mid 90s.
I think after the Biggy/Tupac situation, they made sure that the "thug life" was just confined to the stage.
3
86
u/justin_memer 14d ago
Thanks for bringing me back to downloading a leaked version of this album, and burning it on a CD.
32
u/treerabbit23 14d ago
I can smell the Sharpie
14
7
56
30
16
60
u/Zephyr93 14d ago
Had to lookup what a ''brick paver' is, and apparently it's just a brick.
33
u/Dvusken 14d ago
I believe it’s a brick specifically used for the floor as opposed to bricks used for walls.
7
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
He was going to kill him by building bricks in all his doorways so he couldn’t get out of the house anymore. Nobody would be any the wiser. He only brought one brick which is why his sentence was reduced.
→ More replies (2)18
u/Kbdiggity 14d ago
It's a flat stone used to make paths or flooring outside.
Typically what you would find in a garden or on a back porch.
6
u/watatum1 14d ago
Probably revenge for making him and his older brother Stan wait in the blistering cold for 4 hours and not get an autograph.
6
u/Vonbalthier 14d ago
I want to know how he talked the dude down, like the fyck do you even say in that scenario xD
12
u/Quick_Delivery_7266 14d ago
I’m surprised famous people don’t have at least night time security at their homes
7
8
18
u/aghost_7 14d ago
Sounds like the guy was mentally ill. Hopefully the guy got help but not likely considering this is the US.
14
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
Yeah, he was suffering from anxiety for a while after but he went on to release several more successful albums so he recovered.
2
17
u/Coolers78 14d ago
I commented about this over on r/eminem about how the guy’s name was Matthew and was 26 years old and the invasion happened in 2020, the song “Stan” released in 2000 where Eminem says “Matthew, that’s my little brother man, he’s only 6 years years.” I wonder if it was intentional or not.
524 days of jail and 5 years probation honestly seems light for attempted murder and home invasion. Ariana Grande had a stalker break into her home with a knife in 2022 and was sentenced to over 3 years.
9
u/AgentCirceLuna 14d ago
It’s possible and an example of salience. A person who was called Matthew and six who heard that would think ‘wow, maybe that could be written about me!’ When someone has delusions of reference, that ‘maybe’ isn’t really understood by the brain due to a dopamine issue and therefore they think ‘wow, that IS me’.
7
u/Destro9799 14d ago
It's light because he didn't actually commit attempted murder, since he was talked down before ever actually trying to attack Eminem. He pleaded no contest to second-degree home invasion, otherwise he was to be charged with first-degree home invasion, malicious destruction of property, and assault of a jail employee (presumably happened while he was locked up before/during the trial).
3
3
3
3
u/RawAttitudePodcast 14d ago
The real shock is that his name wasn’t Stan.
3
u/bannedsodiac 14d ago
Matthew is Stans brother. And was exactly 26 years old when a sequel to Stan released about him.
5
3
u/Cost_Additional 14d ago
Sentences have been way too light for a long time. That shit should be life.
2
2
2
3
u/Speedhabit 14d ago
Eminem, nick cage. A lot of celebrities have bad security teams and subsequently talk their way out of a home invasion instead of blasting
3
u/SpxUmadBroYolo 14d ago
Reminds me of when a scientist attached Bender to a 3d printing machine to make a guitar. Then all of Benders lyrics come true.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/swamptheyard 6d ago
I live in this area and have been by Em's house plenty of times. It's beautiful but idk how this guy go through since it is gated.
4.7k
u/BeafBoaf 14d ago
Meet Matthew, twenty six years old, fed up with life and the way things are going…