I'm not sure I'd return calls from BonoBob, either. Although of course, I might if I thought the story would get out that I didn't. According to a variety of sources, Eminem refused to return any calls from Bob Geldof or Bono about performing at Live 8, even after they sent the rapper pictures of African kids wearing Eminem and D-12 t-shirts.
Bob is reported to have said: "Bono called me while I was in Africa and said 'he's [Eminem] not calling me back. I've got these pictures of kids wearing Eminem and D-12 t-shirts and we got them sent off to Eminem's office but did we hear anything? It's sad. If people don't want to do anything, then it's cool, I'm OK with that, but I wouldn't mind if they got back to us."
Of course there's a chance Eminem was struggling with that drug dependency problem that stalled his European tour in August. And, to be honest, despite the fact that I'm a hugely compassionate individual who lies awake at night worrying about the world's poverty stricken and disenfranchised people, if it was me, the one thing guaranteed to make me not perform at Live 8 would be someone trying to emotionally blackmail me into doing it with pictures of African kids dressed in my t-shirts.