Photo: WENN
Two of the women allegedly assaulted by Dr. Dre have spoken out against the new NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, describing themselves as "casualties of the film's revisionist history."
According to various testimonies, including her own, journalist Dee Barnes was beaten "mercilessly" by Dre at a record release party back in the 90s. At the time, Rolling Stone reported that Dre encountered Barnes at a record release party in Hollywood, and "picked her up by her hair and 'began slamming her head and the right side of her body repeatedly against a brick wall near the stairway' as his bodyguard held off the crowd with a gun.
"After Dre tried to throw her down the stairs and failed, he began kicking her in the ribs and hands. She escaped and ran into the women's rest room. Dre followed her and 'grabbed her from behind by the hair again and proceeded to punch her in the back of the head'."
Meanwhile his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Michel'le, has also accused the rapper and businessman of abusing her while they were together. Earlier this month, Dre half-heartedly admitted to the allegations, saying, "I made some fucking horrible mistakes in my life...But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again."
Despite its positive reviews, the forthcoming film doesn't touch upon Dre's history of violence against women. Writing for Gawker, Barnes said, "That event isn’t depicted in Straight Outta Compton, but I don’t think it should have been, either. The truth is too ugly for a general audience. I didn’t want to see a depiction of me getting beat up, just like I didn’t want to see a depiction of Dre beating up Michel’le, his one-time girlfriend."
She continued, "But what should have been addressed is that it occurred. When I was sitting there in the theater, and the movie’s timeline skipped by my attack without a glance, I was like, “Uhhh, what happened?” Like many of the women that knew and worked with NWA, I found myself a casualty of Straight Outta Compton’s revisionist history."
Speaking to VLAD TV, Michel'le said, "Why would Dre put me in it? If they start from where they start from, I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat up and told to sit down and shut up."
The film has also been criticised, for various other reasons, by Easy E's daughter EB Writer and NWA member MC Ren.
