With the release of the Straight Outta Compton biopic, some skeletons have been dug up from Dr. Dre’s past. In the 90’s there had been allegations made against Dre claiming that he was abusive towards women. Former TV personality Dee Barnes claimed she was once assaulted and his former girlfriend and mother of one of his children singer Michel’le said he was abusive to her during their relationship.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, The Doctor didn’t deny his abusive past and was apologetic.
“I was young, f—–g stupid, ” he said. “I would say all the allegations aren’t true – some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back.”
[ALSO READ: Michel’le Says Dr. Dre Shot At Her (VIDEO)]
After Straight Outta Compton’s release, Barnes penned an essay for Gawker in which she detailed the attack she suffered at the hands of Dre and how her coming forward led to her being black balled in the industry.
“People ask me, ‘How come you’re not on TV anymore?’ and ‘How come you’re not back on television?’ It’s not like I haven’t tried. I was blacklisted. Nobody wants to work with me. They don’t want to affect their relationship with Dre,” she wrote.
[ALSO READ: Dr. Dre Apologizes To Women He Hurt]
Dre issued an official apology last week saying, “Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an excuse for what I did.”
Both women have responded to his apology. While Michel’le feels like it was just for good publicity, Barnes is happy that Dre said sorry.
“I don’t really think it’s a sincere apology,” Michel’le told BBC radio host Dotun Adebayo. “I didn’t ask for a public apology and I think if he is going to apologize he should do it individually. To just group us like we are nothing and nobody – I just don’t think it’s sincere. Treat us like we have names. He’s selling a movie. I just think its good PR at the moment.”
Barnes looked at all the possible reasons for Dre apologizing in another article for Gawker.
“Is this is a PR move by Universal, which released Straight Outta Compton? After all, the film just crossed the $100 million mark its second weekend in theaters. Is it damage control by Apple, which can no longer ignore that if you take the ‘Beats by Dre’ logo and remove the ‘S,’ you get a double entendre describing several woman he just apologized to? Is Dre himself really remorseful or just saving face? To me, the answers to these questions matter less than the fact that Dre stepped up and performed his social responsibility by finally taking accountability for his actions. Who cares why he apologized? The point is that he did.”
