Apple, reverse your decision to add Dr. Dre to your executive staff

Apple recently announced an agreement to acquire Beats Music and Beats Electronics.  You may be familiar with their popular headphones.  Hip hop superstar Dr. Dre is a co-founder of both Beats companies, and while the deal won't be final until September, news reports have quoted his share of the proceeds from Apple from as low as $100 million to as much as $700 million.  He will also become a senior executive with Apple.

I researched Dr. Dre lyrics and was amazed and appalled. I'm including links to examples in case you're as unfamiliar as I was, but be forewarned they're extremely offensive.  Click here or here or here.  Some will defend his work as art, or as something done in character and not a true reflection of his thoughts and opinions.  Even if those arguments have some truth, it has a negative impact on our culture.  I see this first hand on a regular basis, often hearing people of many age groups, races and ethnicities using the f-word, ‘bitch’ and ‘nigga’ in casual conversations.  They make no attempt to hide it and don’t appear to think there’s anything wrong with any of these words.  That’s the impact this ‘art’ has on our culture.  Each of these words is prevalent in Dr. Dre’s lyrics.

I support free speech and believe adults have a right to perform, listen to and buy any music they choose, and if that includes Dr. Dre, so be it.  The problem I have is with the blatant double standard that is allowing Apple to add Dr. Dre to their executive staff with no media coverage of the fact that his music hits many hot buttons that for other public figures trigger tough questions: degradation and violence toward women, racism, homophobia, and gun violence.  We have all watched as Paula Deen, Donald Sterling, Brendan Eich of Mozilla, the owner of Chick fil A, and others have received laser-focused twenty four-hour media coverage and have been largely tried and convicted in the media for behavior or beliefs deemed racist, anti-gay, or other types of perceived hatred or discrimination.  They have been forced out of jobs, or their businesses were either seriously damaged or in the case of Sterling, taken from them.  

This music is free speech, but fairness and consistency have to be applied, and Dr. Dre and Apple should be subjected to the same media scrutiny and pressure as those named above.  Yet they're not, so I’m using this petition as a way to do something most media isn’t doing: shine a spotlight on Apple’s deal and plans, and ask CEO Tim Cook to do one of two things: either 1) reverse their decision to bring Dr. Dre onto their executive staff, or 2) publish a piece in major media outlets that explains their justification for having Dr. Dre on their staff despite his history of hate and hostility toward large segments of our society.

I believe the majority of people would strongly object to Apple’s plans if they knew more about Dr. Dre’s music and the violent, hateful messages it contains.  I hope you'll consider supporting my efforts to provide this visibility by signing this petition and also sharing it with friends, relatives, your social media networks, and anyone else who might be interested in adding their voice to this issue.  Thank you for your consideration.