Dee Barnes Applauds Dr. Dre for Apologizing
Despite the success of Straight Outta Compton, Dr. Dre's abusive past continues to haunt him with women whom he's physically abused during his rise to fame. Many of those women have come forward in response to the film's omissions of his actions. One of the most vocal of the group is TV journalist Dee Barnes, whom he publicly assaulted. After calling out the super-producer for blantantly ommitting their exchange from the film, she is now applauding him for finally saying "I'm sorry."
Barnes published a piece in Gawker last week where she criticized the film and its creators for overlooking Dre's heinous behavior and highlighted how she was black-balled from the industry following the incident. Her heartfelt piece pushed Dre to release a statement to The New York Times, where he, after years of criticism, finally issued an apology.
"Is this a PR move by Universal, which released Straight Outta Compton? After all, the film just crossed the $100 million mark its second weekend in theaters. Is it damage control by Apple, which can no longer ignore that if you take the 'Beats by Dre' logo and remove the 'S,' you get a double entendre describing several [women] he just apologized to?," she said in the follow-up piece. "Is Dre himself really remorseful or just saving face? To me, the answers to these questions matter less than the fact that Dre stepped up and performed his social responsibility by finally taking accountability for his actions. Who cares why he apologized? The point is that he did."
After some criticized her for coming forward with opportunistic intentions, Barnes quickly put them in check stating that she simply is asking for a call to action against violence. "Women survivors of violence are expected neither to be seen nor heard, and the pressure increases when it involves celebrities," she said. "No one wants to see their heroes criticized. And if they are African-American, the community at large becomes suspicious of an underlying motive to tear down a successful Black man."
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(Photos from left: Rachel Worth / WENN, Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
