‘Journalist assault is a major blemish on my character – Dr. Dre

 

Hip-hop icon Dr. Dre will forever regret his assault of a female journalist in the 1990s, insisting the incident will always stain his legacy.

The veteran star infamously lost his temper with Dee Barnes after spotting her at a nightclub back in 1991 and physically attacked her over an interview she published with Dre’s former N.W.A. bandmate-turned-rival Ice Cube.

He pleaded no contest to a beating charge and received probation, while Barnes also won a civil lawsuit against the rapper.

In 2015, Dre addressed his violent past as he issued a formal apology to “the women I’ve hurt” over the years, but the timing of the statement was questioned by critics as its release emerged as the N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, was hitting cinemas.

Now the MC and superproducer, real name Andre Young, has revisited the incident once more in the second instalment of his new four-part TV documentary The Defiant Ones, which focuses on his music industry success.

In the candid footage, Dre urges other men not to make the same mistake he did, because it’s haunted him ever since.

“Any man that puts his hands on a female is a f**king idiot, he’s out of his f**king mind,” he declares in the episode, which was released on Monday (10Jul17).

“I was out of my f**king mind at the time, I f**ked up,” he continues. “I paid for it, I’m sorry for it, and I apologise for it. I have this dark cloud that follows me and it’s gonna be attached to me forever. It’s a major blemish on who I am as a man.”

The second episode of The Defiant Ones, made for U.S. cable network HBO, also features a stern warning about domestic violence.

Barnes is not the only woman Dre has been accused of abusing in the past – his ex-girlfriend Michel’le maintains he was violent during their relationship from 1990 to 1996. They share a son named Marcel. musicnews.com