Lifetime's Michel'le Biopic, Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel'le, will arrive this week—but not without some controversy surrounding one of its main characters.
According to TMZ, Dr. Dre has sent a cease and desist letter to Sony Pictures over his depiction in the TV film which casts the producer as violent and abusive toward Michel'le. In the letter, Dre reportedly denies abusing Michel'le, and while he makes reference to dating her—the singer has a son with Dre—he claims she never addressed any type of violent behavior on his part back then nor filed a police report. He's reportedly threatening to sue the company if nothing is changed on their end.
A trailer for the film was released last month and featured a scene between Dre (played by Curtis Hamilton) and Michel'le (Rhyon Nicole Brown) in the studio where Dre grabbed her by the neck after she presumably messed up a take to his dissatisfaction. "You sing it like you feel and I'ma kick your ass," he says while others watch alarmed by his actions.
His abusive past was also brought up around the release of Straight Outta Compton as it was reported that a scene of Dre assaulting Dee Barnes was cut from the original script. Dre would later "apologize to the women I've hurt," though he didn't address the women by name in his statement.
Michel'le spoke with VladTV at length around that same time on why she felt she was excluded from the movie. "Why would [Dre] put me in it? I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat on and told to sit down and shut up."
Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel'le will air Oct. 15 on Lifetime.
