Straight Outta Compton movie left out Dr. Dre’s abuse against women because it didn’t ‘serve the narrative’

"I made some f*cking horrible mistakes in my life. I was young, f*cking stupid"

A former Fox TV host who was attacked by Dr Dre has spoken out against Straight Outta Compton, criticising it for leaving out the producer’s alleged history of abuse against herself and other women.

Writing in Gawker, Dee Barnes suggested that “the truth is too ugly for a general audience”, and while she didn’t want to see the physical acts themselves depicted in the film, she felt that it should have addressed that they occurred.

“The biggest problem with Straight Outta Compton is that it ignores several of N.W.A.’s own harsh realities,” she concludes. “That’s not gangsta, it’s not personal, it’s just business. Try as they might, too much of N.W.A.’s story ain’t that kinda shit you can sweep under no rug. You know?”

In an interview with Rolling Stone leading up to the movie’s premiere, Dre showed remorse for his actions.

“I made some f*cking horrible mistakes in my life. I was young, f*cking stupid,” he said. “I would say all the allegations aren’t true - some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really f*cked up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there’s no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again.”

Director F. Gary Gray said that these elements were omitted from the film because “we couldn’t fit everything into the movie” and they wanted to focus on stories that “served the narrative” instead of “a lot of side stories”.

Straight Outta Compton is in cinemas now.