LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21 (UPI) — N.W.A. co-founder Dr. Dre has owned up to accusations of physical abuse by multiple women.
The Straight Outta Compton producer released a statement to the New York Times Friday apologizing for having hurt several women, although he did not mention any specific events.
“Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life,” the statement read. “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.”
“I apologize to the women I’ve hurt,” he added. “I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all our lives.”
Accusers Dee Barnes, Michel’le and Tairrie B — all at one time connected with the rapper — outlined the abuse they suffered by the hands of Dre through interviews with the paper this week.
“Opening up and finding out there were other women like me gave me the power to speak up,” Michel’le — a former girlfriend and mother to one of Dr. Dre’s sons — explained. “I’ve been talking about my abuse for many, many years, but it has not gotten any ears until now.”
Charges could have been filed, but the R&B singer said she didn’t think she could. “We don’t get that kind of education in my culture,” she said.
Rapper Tairrie B — full name Theresa Murphy — was allegedly punched twice in the face by the N.W.A. star after he heard a diss track directed toward him. Barnes, another accuser and hip-hop journalist, said Dre punched her and slammed her body against a wall repeatedly at a party in 1991. Apparently the rapper was not fond about a segment she did on her Fox television show Pump It Up!.
Dre was charged with assault and battery after Barnes’ case, the Times reports, and was sentenced to community service and probation along with a fine.
The accusations come about at the same time Dr. Dre’s Straight Outta Compton gains popularity in theaters. But the timing isn’t about opportunities (“What opportunity?” Murphy said), instead, it’s a response.
“They brought up the past,” she said. “Not me.”
The women’s stories were omitted from the film, causing an uproar among those sensitive to the rapper’s less-than-flattering history.
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