DRE SLAPS DETROIT
WITH $25 MIL LAWSUIT

Dr. Dre made good on his promise earlier this week (hitsdailydouble.com, 7/10) to sue the city of Detroit over its stopping of a video from being shown during the Up In Smoke tour performance July 6 at Joe Louis Arena.

Dre hit the city with a $25 million First Amendment violation lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Friday (7/14).

Named in the suit were the city itself, two police officers responsible for shutting down the videos and Greg Bowens, press secretary to Detroit Mayor Dennis W. Archer.

The suit claims that Bowens, along with several armed and plainclothes police officers, showed up at Joe Louis Arena and demanded to see a copy of the eight-minute allegedly illicit video lead-in to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's performance.

According to the suit, Bowens, acting with the full knowledge and authority of the mayor, demanded the video not be shown at the performance.

When his request was met with resistance by tour promoter William Silva, Bowens allegedly said, "You don't get it, this is my mother-fucking city and you're going to do it my mother-fucking way." The suit also alleges Bowens said, "Dr. Dre was arrested last time he toured here, so he'll know we're serious."

Detroit police Commander Gary Brown, one of the officers named in the suit, also allegedly claimed that if the video was shown, a parent accompanying a minor to the show could possibly be arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Brown allegedly threatened to arrest "whoever 'pushed the video [play] button,' Dr. Dre and tour promoters Silva and Phil Robinson, and immediately stop the video and the tour performance."

Dre is suing for violation of First Amendment and violation of due process rights.