It was the moment the music industry, the country, the world, had waited for: Eminem and Elton John, performing together to cap the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
They couldn't have looked more different: John, the flamboyant pop elder in his polka-dotted suit. Eminem, the gritty Detroit rapper in his powder blue track outfit and backwards baseball cap. The selection was Stan, with John at an electric piano, and it became an increasingly gripping rendition of a gripping song.
For most of the six-minute performance, the two perched at opposite corners. But as the song ended, they made their way to centre stage, where they embraced, then lifted their hands together in a kind of victory salute (above).
So that was the official response, delivered without words, to critics who had accused Eminem of gay-bashing and John of betraying the gay community in what has been the most heated controversy in Grammy history.
Eminem, who was a three-time winner in the rap categories, thanked 'everybody who could look past the controversy and everything and see the album for what it was, and also for what it isn't', an apparent jab at those who have said The Marshall Mathers LP is hateful toward gays and women.
Oustide the ceremony 100 people protested (right). 'Rally Against Hate' organisers said they had succeeded in drawing attention to the foul-mouthed rapper's violent, obscenity-laced lyrics.
