Dr. Dre is stepping way outside of his character that we- the public- know him to have. In he and Jimmy Iovine’s new HBO documentary, The Defiant Ones, the hella private NWA OG got ALL the way real about his violence toward one of the women in his past.
He spoke about that infamous time when he reportedly beat female rapper/ex MTV TV host, Dee Barnes, in a nightclub in 1991. The drama reportedly went down after Dee asked Dre a question that he didn’t like during an interview. He ultimately ended up allegedly choking and punching her. Dee successfully sued Dre for the incident, but later revealed that she didn’t get as much money as one might have assumed.
Dre’s Televised Apology To Dee Barnes
Dre never spoke about the incident much…except for that one time when he released a statement just before the 2015 release of the NWA biopic, Straight Outta Compton. Many believed he was doing it as a PR stunt. However, fast forward to today and the brotha had a seemingly genuine ‘come clean’ moment…at least as it pertains to Dee Barnes. Here’s part of what he said about beating her up back in the day:
“I was out of my fu*king mind at the time. I fu*ked up. It’s a major blemish on who I am as a man.”
Should Michel’le Have Been Included?
By now it’s no secret that Dre’s ex-girlfriend/mother of his son, Michel’le, has claimed that Dr. Dre used to beat the hell outta her throughout their years-long relationship. Although Dre didn’t fully deny Michel’le’s claims, she revealed that she was “offended” Dre had reportedly tried to legally stop her from telling her truth in her recent biopic, Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le.
At that time, Dre reportedly threatened to sue her if the biopic made him look like a woman beater. Michel’le did not budge from her truths and the alleged beatings, she says she endured from Dre, remained a part of the movie. As far as I know, there was also no lawsuit filed against her by Dre afterward.
That brings me back to Dre’s recent ‘come clean’ confessional. He manned up and publicly apologized for the Dee Barnes beating (which is undeniable since it’s public record). But if Michel’le’s claims about Dr. Dre are true, do y’all think he should have at least mentioned her name in his televised ‘this is my confession’ moment?
Listen, Dr. Dre is a legend and a phenomenal music producer. Michel’le was part of a legendary movement in hip hop and R&B as well. But just like we always say here at ILOSM: Celebrities have accomplished a high level of greatness, but that does not make them perfect people, it simply makes them perfectly flawed human beings, just like the rest of us. With that said, I won’t be holding my breathe for that public ‘sorry’ to Michel’le, just saying. Best wishes to both of them though.
