Source: Kevin Winter / Getty
Straight Outta Compton is still smashing the box office, but many people feel that there was a crucial element left out–that would be much of the group’s misogyny, but especially Dr. Dre’s well documented abuse toward women. It is well known that Dr. Dre has beat up his ex-girlfriend Michel’le, rapper Tairrie B, and Dee Barnes.
Barnes actually wrote a piece for Gawker sharing her thoughts about the movie and what was missing, but also detailed what her life had been like since her beating by Dre. It wasn’t pretty, but Barnes’ story needed to be told, and now it has been revealed that the scene was incorporated in an early draft of Straight Outta Compton, but it was removed…and has been found once again.
Via The LA Times:
In the scene, the fictional Dre, “eyes glazed, drunk, with an edge of nastiness, contempt” (per noted from the script) spots Barnes at the party and approaches her.
“Saw that [expletive] you did with Cube. Really had you under his spell, huh? Ate up everything he said. Let him diss us. Sell us out.”
“I just let him tell his story,” Barnes’ character retorts, “That’s what I do. It’s my job.”
“I thought we were cool, you and me,” Dre fires back. “But you don’t give a [expletive]. You just wanna laugh at N.W.A, make us all look like fools.”
The conversation escalates, Barnes throws her drink in Dre’s face before he attacks her “flinging her around like a rag-doll, while she screams, cries, begs for him to stop.”
What Barnes’ wrote in her Gawker piece basically summed up the above. She also uploaded a news segment about what happened to her where MC Ren said she deserved what she got and Yella and Eazy-E basically seemed to cosign it:
And we’re now also hearing from Dr. Dre, who has offered a seemingly more sincere apology. He had previously been more dismissive of the abuse allegations when asked in the past, but this time around he released a statement that he seemed to give more thought to. Here’s a snippet:
“I apologize to the women I’ve hurt,” the producer/MC told the paper. “I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives.” Dre’s history of violence against women has recently drawn attention in the wake of its omission from new N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton. MC/journalist Dee Barnes, Dre’s ex Michel’le, and now N.W.A-affiliate Tairrie B have all publicly discussed his patterns of abuse from the late ’80s and early ’90s (a period covered in the film).
“Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life,” Dre added. “However, none of this is an excuse for what I did. I’ve been married for 19 years and every day I’m working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way. I’m doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again.”
Dr. Dre is a consultant for Apple, and the company also stands behind him.
“Dre has apologized for the mistakes he’s made in the past and he’s said that he’s not the same person that he was 25 years ago. We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year and a half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed,” said Apple in its own statement.
Public apologies are nice, but I do wonder if he reached out personally.
RELATED POSTS
Dee Barnes Gets Real About ‘Straight Outta Compton’ And The Dr. Dre Assault
