"The Real Slim Shady" was Eminem's first song to reach number one in the United Kingdom and it also peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, giving him his biggest hit up to that point.
It won multiple awards, including MTV Video Music Awards for Best Video and Best Male Video, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.
The video features Eminem dressed in the same superhero costume used by Tom Green in the "Lonely Swedish" video chasing a boy band, taking one of its members down to the ground and putting 'his bum on the man's lips.' The costume can be seen later in the "Without Me" music video following the release of The Eminem Show.
In the uncensored version of the music video, the fat man in underwear wears a ball gag; in the censored version, he does not.
The edited version does not show Eminem raising his middle fingers; instead, he points at the camera.