Elton John has said that Eminem’s homophobic tag is “nonsense” and that stars who criticise the rapper lack the “intelligence to see his intelligence.”

Eminem has been heavily criticised for his lyrics which have been called sexist and anti-gay and many of his concerts have been picketed by gay groups angry at his glorification of homophobia.

However, Elton has long championed the bad boy of pop’s music and even performed a duet with the rapper at the 2001 Grammy Awards.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Elton said he "admired" the star and said he got goose bumps when he first rehearsed with Eminem for their Grammy show.

"From the start, I've always admired Eminem's thinking.

"That's the reason I wanted to appear on the Grammys with him when I was asked, despite all the nonsense talked about his being homophobic.

"Let the Boy Georges and the George Michaels of the world get up in a twist about it if they don't have the intelligence to see his intelligence."

At the time of the Grammy awards, Joan M. Garry from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said: "Eminem`s lyrics do more than glorify violence against lesbians, gay men, transgender people, and women - they also give permission for young people to abuse and harass people who are `different,` numbing them to the damaging impact of homophobia and misogyny."

Late last year, Eminem told Rolling Stone magazine that has no problem using the word "faggot" as a term for gays – but he would never again use the word "nigger" to describe blacks.

The N-word is "a word I don't feel comfortable with, it wouldn't sound right coming out of my mouth,” he told the magazine.

But "faggot" isn't so bad: "If you're using the word in the way of calling them a name, that's different than a racial slur to me."