The success of the film Straight Outta Compton has been marred by one glaring omission — Dr. Dre’s checkered past when it comes to the abuse of women.
In his early years in rap, Dr. Dre was accused of abusing girlfriend Michel’le, slapping rapper Tairrie B, and severely beating Dee Barnes.
Barnes recently wrote an op-ed piece where she described her horrific encounter with Dr. Dre. Some have argued that Dr. Dre’s abusive past should have been in the film, but there was a version that detailed his attack on Barnes.
According to the L.A. Times, Jonathan Herman’s first draft featured a scene where Dr. Dre abused Barnes.
In the scene, Dr. Dre’s character is drunk and approaches Barnes’ character and says, “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.”
Barnes’ character responded by saying, “I just let him tell his story.” The conversation gets heated and Barnes’ character throws a drink at Dr. Dre’s character. At that point, Dr. Dre’s character responds by “flinging her around like a rag doll” as she yells for help.
The scene never made the final draft along with others, including Dre’s house catching on fire at a party and him being shot four times in the leg.
Dr. Dre has told Rolling Stone that he was “young and stupid” at that time, but he never formally apologized to his victims.
Dr. Dre settled out of court with Barnes for an undisclosed amount, but she said that it never made her rich. She continues to search for 9-to-5 jobs to make ends meet.
