The director of the music video "Love the Way You Lie" said that the video is not about rapper Eminem or Rihanna. Joseph Kahn said that the music video has characters that that he created for Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox to portray.

In an interview with MTV, Kahn said "there are definitely things in both Rihanna and Eminem's [lives] that we have to be very sensitive about when we were making this video, [but] it's not a story about Eminem or Rihanna."

While he denies that Monaghan and Fox are playing Eminem and Rihanna in the video, Kahn said he can understand why fans might think that. "These are fictional characters in my head but obviously based on real human beings."

Earlier this month, Monaghan reported to MTV that he "felt like [he] was playing Eminem a little bit, and Meagan Fox was kind of playing Kim." In the video, Eminem raps about domestic violence, while Rihanna lends her vocals.