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In a statement to The New York Times Friday morning, Dr. Dre apologized for a pattern of misogyny and abusive behavior that emerged in the late '80s and early '90s, a time period that's attracted renewed interest in recent weeks.
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The allegations regarding Dre's behavior have bubbled up in the wake of both a successful new album, Compton — his first in 16 years — and the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, which chronicles Dre's rise to fame alongside contemporaries like Ice Cube and Eazy-E. Straight Outta Compton ignores Dre's abusive history, and the omission has triggered both a new level of scrutiny regarding Dre's behavior and the resulting widespread condemnation.
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"Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life," said Dre.
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"However, none of this is an excuse for what I did.
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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.
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I’m doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again.
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I apologize to the women I’ve hurt.
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I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives."
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Apple also released a statement regarding Dre's behavior, one merited by his work there as a top consultant on Apple Music.
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(The streaming service is built on work done by Dre's old company Beats, which Apple purchased last year.)
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"Dre has apologized for the mistakes he’s made in the past and he’s said that he’s not the same person that he was 25 years ago," said Apple.
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"We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year and a half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed."
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The uproar over Dre's behavior was sparked by a late July Gawker essay titled "Remember When Dr. Dre Bashed a Female Journalist’s Face Against a Wall?"
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The essay detailed Dre's 1991 attack on journalist Denise "Dee" Barnes, an assault that was ostensibly retribution for an inflammatory TV segment Barnes aired in late 1990.
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(The story was reported on by major media at the time and Dre was charged, but it had otherwise been mostly stricken from the public record.)
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A few weeks later, Barnes wrote her own essay for Gawker, this one titled "Here's What's Missing From Straight Outta Compton: Me and the Other Women Dr. Dre Beat Up."
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Barnes wrote about her own assault at Dre's hands and his abuse of one-time girlfriend Michel'le and labelmate Tairrie B. Gawker affiliate Jezebel then revealed that Straight Outta Compton had originally contained a scene depicting Dre's attack on Barnes, one that was cut from its script during production.
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Dre's comments to The New York Times weren't his first attempt to address his abusive history.
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In a cover story interview with Rolling Stone published between Gawker's first essay and Barnes' follow-up, Dre was asked about the pattern of abuse.
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"I made some fucking horrible mistakes in my life," said Dre.
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"I was young, fucking stupid.
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I would say all the allegations aren't true – some of them are.
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Those are some of the things that I would like to take back.
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It was really fucked up.
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But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again."
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