Dr. Dre [ tickets ] has reached settlements with the cities of Detroit and Auburn Hills, Mich., over lawsuits that Dre filed regarding the cities' reactions to his showing a seven-minute video with explicit footage during his concerts. Dre argued that the cities violated his First Amendment rights.

In July 2000, the city of Detroit blocked Dre from showing the video at Joe Louis Arena. The next night, Auburn Hills attempted to block it, but the video was shown after a federal judge overturned the city's order. Following Dre's Auburn Hills show, that city filed criminal charges against the rapper. Those charges were eventually dropped.

As part of the settlement, Dre received written apologies from the two cities and checks of $25,000 and $28,346 from Detroit and Auburn Hills, respectively, to cover legal fees.

In a statement, Dre--born Andre Young--expressed his satisfaction at the settled suits. "Free speech remains alive in America. I look forward to returning to Detroit, so my fans can hear and see the show I originally put together for them."

Detroit’s apology from Mayor Dennis Archer reads in part, "On behalf of the City of Detroit, I regret what occurred. Had time constraints not intervened, both sides might have met, expressed their concerns, and arrived at a reasonable and fair resolution, or, barring that, left the matter up to a court to decide."

Auburn Hills' mea culpa covered the criminal charges filed against Dre. "The City wishes, as part of a resolution in this matter and the dismissal by Mr. Young of the lawsuit, to express its regret to Mr. Young that these events took place. To the extent that any threats were made by police to censor the performance, such threats should never have been made, as they would violate the performers’ First Amendment rights of free expression, as has already been found by a Detroit Federal Judge in the case. Likewise, Andre Young should not have been criminally charged by the City and the City did voluntarily dismiss the charges against him last November."