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In one of DJ Vlad’s latest series of interviews, the former disc jockey and interviewer sat down with comedienne Luenell for a discussion about how some celebrities are able to maintain their popularity despite their involvement in domestic violence against their partners. Sharing their problematic opinions on a star-studded list of instances, DJ Vlad and Luenell had some pretty shocking things to say.
The conversation started off with the pair discussing which celebrities might need some prayers at the moment. When Dr. Dre’s name came up in reference to his recent hospitalization for a brain aneurysm, Luenell said that even though she liked the multi-talented artist and producer’s music, she didn’t think that everyone would be on board with sending up prayers for him due to his known record of violence against women.
“Now you know, one would say,” Luenell began, “‘Does Dre get a pass for being such a notorious woman beater because he makes good music?’ One would say that some people ain’t gonna be praying for Dr. Dre. A lot of women you know? But you can get a pass, it seems, if you’re popular. He’s a notorious woman beater. I love Dr. Dre’s music, don’t get it f*cked up, and I don’t want to see any of our icons die.”
“But, I don’t…we can’t…,” she said as she struggled to gather her words, “some of the charges his wife was making was even that he had been violent with her. His track record sucks.”
Then, DJ Vlad pointed out that about seven months prior to Dr. Dre’s trip to the hospital, the producer’s estranged wife, Nicole Young, had filed for divorce after 24 years of marriage between the two. Around the time of his aneurysm, Young claimed Dr. Dre had battered her and even put a gun to her head during the course of their marriage. Discussing more of the producer’s history of being associated with abuse and domestic violence, DJ Vlad referred back to a previous interview he’d done with musical artist Michel’le, the producer’s ex-fiancée, who reported similar claims to that of Young. Michel’le claimed Dr. Dre had given her “five black eyes,” dragged her on the floor, and even shot at her during their relationship.
After saying he feels any man of Dr. Dre’s stature shouldn’t have to get violent with a woman, that was when the conversation between him and Luenell became almost unbearable to listen to. While he inferred it was more justifiable for a man with a smaller build to become violent with their partner (as opposed to someone of Dr. Dre’s size), she accredited the producer’s behavior to a “character flaw.” After a quick mention of Bow Wow and his past “track record,” the two decided to bring up an additional artist who they felt was still popular despite his violence in the past: Chris Brown. When talking about the “No Guidance” singer and his abuse against former girlfriend Rihanna, DJ Vlad and Luenell said that for all they know, Rihanna could have been the one to blame for how the incident went down.
DJ Vlad: I don’t have any respect for women beaters. There’s just no purpose for that – any man period, but especially any man that’s 5’8 and taller. If a woman gets violent with him he could push her back and just walk away. Now if it’s a very small man – like Bow Wow seems like they keep testing him. Remember the whole thing? ‘Cause I think like a woman and Bow Wow, it might go either way. It might go either way, right? But someone like a Dre who’s a big, muscular dude, he doesn’t have to put his hands on any female.
Luenell: Well obviously he does have to because he keeps doing it. He doesn’t have to, but maybe he has to. Maybe that a character flaw that he just can’t—he might go years and not do it and then he might just go off.
DJ Vlad: Yeah I mean it’s tough. We, by we I mean we as a society, a hit record will fix everything because look at Chris Brown. Chris Brown probably had the most graphic woman beating episode of anybody –
Luenell: – But he didn’t have a record of doing that though. He didn’t have a history of it. Isolated incident, which got nipped in the muthaf*cking bud and I’m sure he won’t never do that again.
DJ Vlad: And to be fair, like I’ve met Rihanna, I’ve interviewed Rihanna before, she’s like my height. She’s big. So it’d be interesting to see what really happened in that car. If she really started beating his a*s first.
Luenell: I have no doubt.
DJ Vlad: You know, pointing a finger up to his head you know like –
Luenell: – She’s from Barbados. I have no doubt. She ain’t no punk b*tch a*s Holywood f*cking – she’ll go toe-to-toe with a muthaf*cker today. Rihanna’s tough. She’s not no f*cking punk.
Considering all the mess both DJ Vlad and Luenell felt the need to share, a common thing that seemed to come up was size. Whether talking about Dr. Dre being too much of a “big muscular” man to be hitting on women, Bow Wow being a smaller man, which causes women to “test” him, or referring to Rihanna as being “big,” DJ Vlad clearly has a complex surrounding how a person’s size determines the part they play in abuse, whether the abuse is justifiable, or whether that person is the abused themselves. It’s a toxic view many hold, even though it’s not often so vocally shared. Unfortunately, you would think no man would be joking about a matter like that, or even have that mindset since no one should be abusing anybody. His thoughts on Rihanna especially are eerily similar to the way people continue to bully Megan Thee Stallion and claim she played a part in getting shot in the foot by Tory Lanez.
Even though DJ Vlad vocalized the majority of the problematic talking points, another big issue is the fact that instead of refuting some of the harmful things he was saying, Luenell just sat there and participated in it. Even though it’s not necessarily her responsibility to defend any of the women they discussed, you would think that as a Black woman, she definitely wouldn’t engage in the narrative that “big” angry Black women deserve what’s coming to them.
