Forgot About Dre: Nowadays Everybody Wanna Talk…
On the Failures of Mainstream Coverage of Dr. Dre and Dee Barnes
I saw Straight Outta Compton
two weeks before its August 14th nationwide release, there was
no doubt in my mind that a
month later we would be exactly where we are now:
Its second week as the reigning
number one movie in the country.
Honestly, the film was a lot better than I anticipated. I enjoyed it even though, as a woman who opposes violence against women and a longtime rap fan, I strongly disagreed with leaving out Dr. Dre’s 1991 assault of TV personality/rapper Dee Barnes (precisely because it is directly tied to the NWA/Cube beef, which the film spends a lot of time covering).
When I had the opportunity to speak with F. Gary Gray about the film a week or so before the film’s release, I asked him about the omission. His response was essentially that the film couldn't cover everything and had already been cut down from three and a half hours.
My conversation with Gray came after Gawker posted Rich Juzwiak’s piece. Mind you, this was the very first article Gawker posted after seeing the film. So why wouldn't a woman like me who has always called the men around
me out on their sexism embrace this? After all, Gawker is a notable outlet and the fact that it’s “standing up” for Black women has to be a win, right?
Not really.
I didn't cheer because I know
that Gawker could not care less
about Dee Barnes or me.
That also goes for The New York Times, The Washington Post and other mainstream press that has made this Dee Barnes thing the story du jour. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated hearing directly from Barnes. The details she shared in her Gawker piece were very disturbing. Plus, I'm not gonna lie, learning that Gray filmed the Ice Cube interview that set everything off was shocking. Still, I wonder why no publication, Black or women-oriented ones included, had ever asked for her story before now?
I love seeing Ebony.com senior editor Jamilah Lemieux featured in The Washington Post. Yes I get that it hurts more when it’s the men in your own life who do the devaluing, but let’s be clear, that behavior is a byproduct of living in a country that has never put a premium on Black female life or any woman’s life if we are being totally honest.
A lot of women are side-eyeing Dr. Dre’s apology, rightfully noting the timing and how Apple, which is behind the cash cow that is home to Dre’s billion-dollar headphones, probably had a say in it. But what if Dr. Dre decided to apologize in 2001, five years before he unleashed Beats in 2006, or in 2003, the year Gawker was launched, would these outlets have bothered to cover it?
Sunday December 5, 1999,
I personally witnessed Dr. Dre
at a fundraiser for the Jenesse Center, “the oldest domestic violence intervention program in South Los Angeles.” He was there with his wife Nicole and I was the event’s official interviewer. Early in the evening when I approached him for an interview, he declined, politely I might add. Before leaving, however, he came up to me and granted an on-camera interview.
I don't remember if he gave any money that night. To be honest, the full significance of him attending the Jenesse Center fundraiser didn't even hit me until now. That was 1999, eight years after his assault against Dee Barnes. Does his presence there mean he was truly sorry? I don’t know. What I do know is the Los Angeles Times, which listed the event the day prior, did no coverage that I can find of the actual event mentioning Dr. Dre’s attendance.
If Dre had indeed tried to apologize before,
would we even know?
if he had conducted workshops against domestic violence aimed
at young men, would we know that? Had he announced before now that he was undergoing counseling to address his violent behavior towards women, would Gawker, The New York Times, The Washington Times, or The Los Angeles Times have covered it?
And, to keep it realer, Dee Barnes’ assault in 1991 only got mainstream press coverage because the FBI’s response to N.W.A.’s Fuck Tha Police put Dr. Dre and N.W.A. on the mainstream radar. Are we to believe that Dr. Dre and Ike Turner are the only music artists to assault women? Police records for Guns-n-Rose’s Axl Rose, Motley Crue’s Vince Neil and country music’s Glen Campbell say differently.
Andrea Peyser wrote a piece for the New York Post in May about Campbell being largely alone in a home as he battles Alzheimer’s and never mentioned his notorious past beatings of Tanya Tucker, which includes one incident where he allegedly knocked her teeth out. The mainstream press’ willingness to spotlight Black men assaulting women is an unfortunate reality that puts Black women in a very difficult position.
How do we call out the men
in our lives on their misogyny while
also acknowledging that we are all
targets of a racist system tied to
this nation’s very existence?
believe that grown people, male
or female, should not put their hands on anyone. I was appalled by Dr. Dre’s actions then like I am now. I do, however, want to believe that he is truly remorseful and has been getting the help he needs. I want to think that he wonders if certain tragedies in his life are tied to his sadistic actions.
What I do not believe, however, is that mainstream outlets suddenly care about what happened to Dee Barnes or any other Black woman. And please don't try to tell me they care about Michel’le, Dr. Dre’s one-time singer-girlfriend and mother to one of his children whom he beat repeatedly. While some of us might remember her music, her relevance to the mainstream media, like that of Dee Barnes, is only her association with Dr. Dre.
At the end of the day, we live in a country where, even before its official formation, the status of Black women did not matter. Legally we were deemed unpaid workers, sexual playthings, creators of other human beings that could fetch a great price on the auction block and property bestowed as wedding gifts. When something happens to us, it’s rarely breaking news, if noteworthy at all. Where is the mainstream press’ collective outcry and nonstop coverage around Sandra Bland’s or any other Black woman’s death?
Last time I checked
neither the United States of America — nor any of its mainstream press outlets —
ever gave a single fuck about me or Dee Barnes.
So please don't try to make me believe
they are gung-ho about me and Dee now.
