Eminem Asked Permission Before Lifting Tony Cox in “Just Lose It.” Here Is Everything the “Bad Santa” Actor Said.

Tony Cox spent "Just Lose It" playing a character built to look ridiculous next to Eminem's Michael Jackson parody. Off camera, he says, Eminem treated him like he was in charge of his own body.

Tony Cox, the actor best known as Marcus in Bad Santa, played the elf-like figure dancing and getting hoisted around Eminem in the 2004 video for "Just Lose It," the lead single from Encore. Over twenty years later, Cox sat down with the YouTube interview channel The Art Of Dialogue and described, in detail, how Eminem behaved with him on that set. eminem.news was first to report on the interview, publishing Tuesday, October 21.

The video itself is one of the more controversial things Eminem ever released. It leans on an unmistakable Michael Jackson parody, built around the "molestation trial era" Jackson, and the backlash was immediate and real: Jackson's camp called it "demeaning and insensitive," and BET pulled the video from rotation after complaints. None of that controversy, Cox says, had anything to do with how he was treated on the day.

The Art Of Dialogue's interview with Tony Cox, the source for everything below.

The lift, and the question before it

The video has a moment where Eminem physically picks Cox up. According to eminem.news's account of the interview, that was not something sprung on Cox between takes. Before the scene, Eminem had an assistant go check with Cox first: was it alright if he lifted him. Cox says he was caught off guard that anyone would think to ask at all, telling the channel, as quoted by eminem.news, "I was surprised."

That is a small detail, but it is the kind of thing a crew either does as a habit or does not do at all. On a set built around physical comedy at another actor's expense, having the star's team check in before a lift is not the default.

Twelve photos, and a line about "Bad Santa"

Cox also described Eminem as a fan of his film work specifically, not just a polite coworker. Per the interview as relayed by eminem.news, Eminem told him he liked Bad Santa, the Terry Zwigoff-directed film where Cox starred opposite Billy Bob Thornton as Marcus, the foul-mouthed elf and partner in a department-store heist scheme. Cox says that admiration came with an unusually specific request: around a dozen photos, which Eminem wanted for his kids.

Summed up by Cox, as quoted by eminem.news: "He was just so nice."

That is consistent with a pattern that keeps showing up whenever people who actually worked with Eminem talk about him on the record, as opposed to people reacting to the Slim Shady persona from a distance. Mike Tyson made a version of that same point last week, insisting people stop projecting the character onto the man. Cox's account is the same claim from a totally different angle: not a defense of Eminem's reputation, just a description of one day on a set.

The wardrobe offer he had to turn down

The detail that did not make most of the short recap write-ups is what happened after filming. Cox says Eminem offered to let him take something, anything, from his wardrobe or warehouse of clothing and memorabilia. Cox wanted to take him up on it. He could not, because he was in the middle of shooting another film at the time and did not have the room in his schedule to go.

Quoted by eminem.news: "I really wanted to go and get some of his wardrobe."

It is a minor regret told two decades later, but it fits the rest of the account: an offer made without being asked for, on a set where Cox was there to be the visual joke, not the guest of honor.

What we could verify, and what we could not

We confirmed the interview exists and matches the description: The Art Of Dialogue's channel lists the video as "Tony Cox On Being In Eminem's 'Just Lose It' Video & 2Pac Acting Paranoid On 'California Love' Set," and Cox's role in the "Just Lose It" video and in Bad Santa are both a matter of public record. We were not able to independently pull a timestamped transcript of the interview ourselves, so the quotes above are presented as reported by eminem.news rather than as our own direct transcription. We also could not find a second outlet that has covered this specific interview as of publication, so eminem.news appears to be first on it.

One thing worth separating out: the interview also touches on Tupac Shakur's demeanor on the set of "California Love," which is a different story entirely and not part of the Eminem material covered here.

Why a two-decade-old video still gets new reporting

"Just Lose It" remains one of the more divisive things in Eminem's catalog, remembered as much for the Jackson backlash as for the song itself. Karol G talked about discovering Eminem's music without understanding a word of it at first, and Quavo named his own favorite Eminem songs on DJ Whoo Kid's show the same week this interview surfaced. Set next to those, Cox's account is a small, specific correction to how that particular era of Eminem's career gets remembered: the joke on camera was broad and, by Jackson's own account, over the line. Off camera, according to the one person who was actually standing next to him getting lifted into the air, somebody checked first.

Header image: Tony Cox in his interview with The Art Of Dialogue (frame from YouTube video). Credit: The Art Of Dialogue.