Dr. Dre’s portrayal in the Lifetime film Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le has sparked outrage among fans of his products, Beats by Dre, and are threatening to boycott the brand.
  Surviving Compton tells the story of R&B singer Michel’le and her relationship with Dr. Dre. Dre is repeatedly shown abusing Michel’le, from punching her multiple times giving her black eyes, to even drawing a gun on the singer.  Airing on October 15, the film reveals that Michel’le was physically abused, despite Dre’s past claims of denial.  In fact, in one of Dre’s movies, Straight Outta Compton, which tells the story of the rap group N.W.A, Michel’le’s character was excluded from the film despite her involvement with the group.  
  In an interview with Indiewire, Michel’le said “I was told they did cast me and did shoot scenes with [my character], but Dr. Dre chose to not have it in [Straight Outta Compton].” However, she stated that she understood why Dre did not put her in the movie as “that was his story,” but her new biopic “allowed [her] to speak [her] truth.” With Michel’le’s story out, it has altered the way people perceive Dre.  
  “We saw two completely different Dr. Dres in Straight Outta Compton and #SurvivingCompton,” tweeted Phillip Lewis, the front page editor of The Huffington Post, after watching the film.
  A user on Twitter conducted a poll to see how the viewers of Surviving Compton perceived Dre after seeing the biopic.  More than 600 people voted in this poll and 37% of them now believe Dre is a “bad guy [and they are] no longer a fan.” 23% said that they are “a fan regardless” of Dre’s portrayal in the film.  Some former fans are threatening to boycott Beats by Dr. Dre, with one tweeting,  “I’ll never support Dr. Dre in anything again and I encourage my followers to boycott streaming him and any business he is a part of as well.”
  Others pointed out the futility of this boycott because Dr. Dre does not own a majority stake in Beats Electronics after selling the business to Apple for three billion dollars in 2014.  This suggests boycotting Beats may not be the right approach.  
 Likewise, Neel Makwana (11) said, “People are just saying that [they are going to boycott] to get attention on this matter and make it seem [it’s] bigger than it actually is.  Boycotting [Dre’s] Beats isn’t going to solve anything.”
  According to TMZ, the letter Dre wrote to Sony Pictures threatening to sue if Surviving Compton aired “flatly denies ever abusing Michel’le.”  In 2015, according to The New York Times, Dr. Dre apologized “to the women [he’s] hurt, “ although he did not specifically mention Michel’le.