Dr Dre has reportedly threatened to sue Sony Pictures over a new film about his former girlfriend Michel’le, which depicts him beating her.
The TV movie in question, Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le, is slated for release this week, but according to TMZ, Dre’s lawyers have sent a cease and desist letter to the company threatening legal action and saying that Michel’le, who is the mother of one of Dre’s children, “never sought medical treatment or filed a police report”. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, denies abusing his ex-partner.
The film is said to show Dre’s character punching Michel’le in the face, pulling her hair and pulling a gun on her. A trailer for the film shows Dre’s character gripping Michel’le by the neck and threatening her.
Last year’s Straight Outta Compton biopic of rap group NWA, of which Dre was a member, was criticised for failing to show Dre’s alleged mistreatment of women at the time. Michel’le, journalist Dee Barnes and rapper Tairrie B have all written in detail about Dre’s alleged assaults on them.
Michel’le has accused Dre of breaking her nose and ribs, and giving her several black eyes. Michel’le and Tairrie B did not press charges, but Dre was charged with aggravated battery over the incident with Barnes in 1991. He pleaded no contest, and was fined $2,513 and sentenced to 240 hours of community service. A civil suit was settled out of court.
Dre has not responded to the allegations individually, but last year apologised in the New York Times to “the women I’ve hurt”. He wrote: “Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. 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.”
The closing credits of Surviving Compton – which stars Rhyon Nicole Brown and Curtis Hamilton – contain a statement from Dre in which he denies he abused Michel’le and challenges her credibility.
Michel’le has criticised Dre’s litigious approach. “What doesn’t make sense is, why would you publicly apologise for beating women, and then turn around and say, ‘I didn’t beat a woman?’” she told the Huffington Post. “That doesn’t make any sense to me, that’s an oxymoron.
“If he would like to take me to court and sue me, then we should both do our depositions so we can get the story right. And I have witnesses, so I don’t think people are gonna get up there and say, ‘No, we didn’t see anything.’”
