Now that it is official: Bounty hunter "Dog" off air indefinitely for slur, how do you feel about the decision

Question

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A reality TV show starring celebrity bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman was pulled from the air indefinitely on Friday, two days after a private phone conversation in which he used a racial slur was posted online.

Cable channel A&E suspended production of the fifth series of Chapman's popular show, "Dog the Bounty Hunter," as the phone call was made public on Wednesday, but on Friday the network went a step further.

"In evaluating the circumstances of the last few days, A&E has decided to take 'Dog The Bounty Hunter' off the network's schedule for the foreseeable future," an A&E spokesman said.

"We hope that Mr. Chapman continues the healing process that he has begun."

savoytruffle80: Well said!

People keep repeating that it was a private conversation which in my opinion makes what he said even worst. It indicates to me that this is how he really feel about people of color. There was no one to put airs on for. It was only him and his son. Dog is racist; why is this so hard to admit by some?

lilsisdanimomma: If you still think the Dog is a good person after reading his rap sheet, you seriously need help:

Pampa, Texas on September 16, 1976 he was charged with Homicide. On August 18, 1977 he began serving a five-year sentence and paroled on January 31, 1979. His parole was terminated on December 20, 1980.

Texas criminal record of arrest or convictions for armed robbery though Chapman claims to have been arrested 18 times for armed robbery. However, he does have two more DWI’s, Burglary, Possession of Burglar Tools, etc.

Texas criminal record of arrest or convictions for armed robbery though Chapman claims to have been arrested 18 times for armed robbery. However, he does have two more DWI’s, Burglary, Possession of Burglar Tools, etc.

On February 28, 1976 in Pampa, Texas Chapman was charged and convicted of DWI.

Answer 1

slur, slur, slur !!!!!!!
and may all hypocritical oafs drown in scum ...
dog the bounty hunter is a man who's helped many people and of course those who help no one wouldn't understand that no one is perfect.
I'm sooooooo angry..... i guarantee not one person is innocent of saying something racial in a fit of anger !
that's the way it is with humans.
do as they say don't do as they do ??????
drown quietly please & i'd like to slur without your interruptions.
BTW Duane and his family have many friends who are from all racial backgrounds !
including black people....... & those who have hate towards DOG, who's coming to dinner at your house anyone of color opposite of you ?
DOUBT IT !
Dog's son lives here in Kailua Kona Hawaii and we know his family all love everyone regardless of race because they have turned themselves over from bad to good to helping keep addicts off of drugs !

Answer 2

Its easy to pull up his wrap sheet when he's already in a tough spot. Dog never hid the fact that he was in prison, and he also spoke about the 'murder' everyone keeps bringing up. Think about it. There is such a thing in the law as an accomplice. If a friend and you went to the mall, to a clothing store, and something caughty your eye on the othe rside of the store, and your friend stole something, guess what...youre going down with her. Did you steal it? No. Is it right? Not in that scenario.

Yes, Dog has made some bad decisions, but havent we all? Its not right for others to judge him, when they werent a fly on the wall.

Lets not forget where Dog got his fame...he is the one (or at least one of the ones) who caught the raper Andrew Luster. He even went to jail for it (dont even get me started on that horrendous day for the Chapman kids).

He is human, and if you read the transcript or listened to the tape...he explained his meaning for the word he chose to use, against THAT ONE woman, and not a race as a whole.

Personally, I think Dog done what was best, and gave the public apology like Mr. Innis requested, and maybe he should give a donation to the African American College Fund or to Mr. Innis CORE organization.

He has a african american pastor, I believe some african american employees, and I believe he has arrested some african americans. If he was a true racist like some wish to say, we would have heard him use the n-word a long time ago, and on one of his shows! Just because you use a word, doesnt make you racist...just think how many people like wine and crackers, and when the crackers run out, you might ask for more. You have then used a racial slur, does that make YOU a racist? And what if the window was cracked open, and a neighbor heard you say it and began spreading that you used the 'c' word. Would that be fair? Just? Racist?

Why do people dwell on those in the media instead of the real people like those young white supremecist girls who sing and spread hate thru music. If you wanna talk about racists, go find them and their website, and rant away.

Answer 3

I don't think he's any different than 80% of all other caucasian people in this country- the only difference is that poor dog just had the misfortune of having his true colors revealed at a very unexpected and inconvenient time. He's as racist as most others are, so what's the big deal? At least he's not a hypocrite about it anymore. People put on their politically correct makeup every day and pretend to be pious, Christian, open-minded citizens, when in reality this is far, far from the truth for the majority of you. What's so interesting about this particular revelation is that the racial tirade was triggered by an interracial relationship involving a close relative- in this case, dog's son. Most of you would probably react in the same manner to an interracial relationship involving your daughter, son, brother, sister, or perhaps cousin- maybe some would be more discrete about it, but you would certainly be likely to have issues with it, simply because it is an interracial relationship involving a black person and someone you are close to. Yes, that's the way we roll in this country. Just imagine the reaction of president Bush if one of his daughters were to bring home a black man and introduce him as her boyfriend! That would be something, but his reaction would be no different from the way most people of Caucasian persuasion would react. You would never hear him voice his views publicly, but we can rest assured he would be very upset about it. But to answer the question: fairly nice gesture on the part of A&E, suspending the show until further investigations have been made and such- I doubt they're sincere, however, and money is probably an issue for them as well in all of this, so that won't help a thing. To combat racism, society as a whole must change- little itsy bitsy cosmetic changes here and there are absolutely useless and a waste of time.

Answer 4

I'm not really sure why everyone keeps saying that just because it was a private conversation that makes it alright. I don't care if it was a private conversation, no one should be using racial slurs at all. And yes, I know that this is America and you have freedom of speech, but it's just ignorance. On his segment with Larry King, he said that he thought he was "cool enough" to use the word. Come on now, cool enough. How stupid can one person be? He keeps saying that he did not do it out of hate or prejudice or anything like that, but in the interview with Larry he said that he used the word with his son, because he wanted hurt his feelings or catch his attention. That is a load of crap. Then he goes on to say how he doesn't use the word very often, but in the tape recording he said that it was a common to use that word around his house. I think that the real Dog came out and now he is trying to do whatever he can to make it seem as if he is so sorry. I personally don't believe it at all.

Answer 5

What a bunch of double-standard crap this has become. It's okay for rappers to say the same words AND MUCH MORE over the airwaves but not okay for a dad to say to a son in a private conversation ? A snot-nosed kid who's been nothing but trouble for the family ? A family that has been financially supporting him? Tucker is a rat who needs his butt tore off! Dog didn't make a racial slur; he's not a bigot. He made a statement because of the girl's actions and attitudes toward his family and he used the street language that he uses when he's chasing down thugs. He had every right to say he didn't want her around his family. It's HIS family and he was trying to protect it as a father/husband should do. If Tucker chose to be with her, he could have done it on his/her own dime and not his dad's. Hawaii is big enough he could have found a place to live away from Dog and Beth.
And Tucker and his g/f proved what kind of trash they are by turning on the one who's been paying the bills! And all for a few bucks from the trashiest, nastiest magazine in America. Now it's A&E's time to do what is right. Either return Dog's show OR take off every show that says anything that could be construed or misconstrued as being prejudiced against any person of any color. And of course, all the rap needs to be taken off the airwaves too.

Answer 6

Was he wrong to use the N word? Of course but it was afterall in a private conversation. This is not at all like the Imus affair. He didn't know his conversation was going to be heard by anyone other than his son on the other end of the telephone. I'm not a fan but I do not feel A & E are right in their decision to suspend or cancel his show. Private is private and if they were to hear private conversations from other stars who appear on A & E they would probably not have any stars left to air.
The real culprits here are the son and maybe his girlfriend and NE for airing the conversation. The U.S. should be screaming for privacy laws which would make it illegal to release conversations meant to be private. I'm sure Alec Baldwin would agree. Shameful, nosey, unethical people who take joy in exposing people in a moment of weakness. There isn't one person that hasn't said something at sometime during their life which they are sorry for or wish they could take back

Answer 7

OK...everyone of these i read i see the same thing...seems that people are afraid to amit they we all use words like that...why is it bad if someone other than a black person uses the n-word?....Dog the bounty hunter...lol....he is like wrestling to me..jus fake...its a TV show and if you read the rap sheet on this site you can see he was no angel. Its all TV, making everything so important like..it was a private conversation...but he's a loser anyway...50 years....50 years...and people still act like slavery and segregation is still around....let it go man....we need to think together and fight for America..would he have gotten into trouble if he would have used *******....or white trash...prolly not...hummmm...

Answer 8

I have mixed feelings about this b/c 1) he was having a private phone conversation, but 2) his language was horrible. Let's not forget that A&E is a private employer and fire / not do business with anyone for any reason, as long as it is not an illegal reason. Fyi, those who think that this is a "free speech" issue should learn that "free speech" (in terms of the First Amendment) refers to Government restriction of speech, not private restriction of speech. Also, as far as "invasion of privacy" goes, laws vary by state as to whether both parties on a phone line must be consent to the call being recorded (i.e., in some states, if one of the people on the line is doing the recording...as opposed to some remote 3rd party doing the recording....no crime has been committed).

Answer 9

Well for the most part saying certain words with that certain group is not uncommon it does not only happen in the black community with the word "n*gger/n*gga"; but I've heard white people address other whites using the term "trailer park/white trash", Mexicans call each other "w*tbacks", girls call each other "sl*ts/b*tches", homosexuals call each other "q**rs" as terms of endearment. But if you are a straight guy you better not call a girl a b*tch, or a homosexual a q**r, Non-Mexicans should not say w*tback etc...so for the people commenting on here about how blacks can use the word but whites can't thats the reasoning behind it. I do not condone the use of derogatory terms as a form of endearment but it exist in many ethnic/gender groups and its usually as a whole more acceptable when people in that group use it towards each other.

Now I will agree with the double standard that a white person cannot say those terms say in a joking setting such as a comedian but an ethnic minority person can is not fair. Some people would argue that the reason why a minority can use it is because the majority here in the US(white Christian males in particular) has pretty much always had power and persecute minorities, so if these majorities say it not it has a more powerful derogatory meaning. But like I said I don't like this argument. But you can see how this is the case even among minorities: Sarah Silverman jokes about Asians and Blacks though controversial since shes a minority herself, female Jewish, its not career ending.

Now as for the recording of the conversation. What most people don't know is that in the US very few states do you have to get the permission of all parties to legally record a conversation. According to federal law(which most state go by) you only need for one party to know that they are being recorded(which would obviously be Dog's son being the knowing party). The laws in place are to protect the two parties from a third party intercepting information. Such as a police officer tapping your call between you and whomever, the police officer would need a warrant if they did not have the consent of at least one of the people on the phone. So as long as his son did not try to black-fe-mail Dog(haha excuse the pun) then its not against most state's law(I think if you don't have consent of all parties you can't use it in court though, but I'm not 100% sure as I am no lawyer).

Assuming the call took place in Hawaii then this is one of those states. "Any wire, oral or electronic communication (including cellular phone calls) can lawfully be recorded by a person who is a party to the communication, or when one of the parties has consented to the recording, so long as no criminal or tortious purpose exists." Now heres where it can get tricky how the law is written "tortious purpose" which means damage to another person's property or reputation. This is where if Dog choose to pursue it he can say Tucker was trying to damage his repuation, because surely with his show canceled and people thinking he his racist it hurt his reputation. However, that can go either way whether Tuckers "intent" was to cause damage or not.

As for the person above saying he wants rap off the shelves and airwaves. You aren't going to get it off the shelves its not offending you because you simply do not have to buy. Now maybe maybe if you have the time and money to pursue it you can get it off the airwaves if you can prove that it is obscene since its of public domain. Similar to Howard Stern going to premium service(XM radio).

As for being a celebrity you have a lot less privacy rights. Sorry I cannot elaborate more on that but we discussed that in my government class last year. But pretty much he's famous so he has to watch what he says more whether its private or not unfortunately thats just a sacrifice you take when you are in the public eye. And apparently he knew that "It's not because she's black, it's because we use the word n*gger sometimes here. I'm not gonna take a chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for for 30 years because some f*cking n*gger heard us say n*gger and turned us in to the Enquirer magazine." He knows that things could slip out and because hes well known he could lose everything for what he says...pretty ironic to me. I mean if you look at the context of how he was saying it I don't think he's a klan member ready to torch some crosses or anything....he was worried about his language and losing everything because of it. I mean he did not know he was being recorded and he states its not because they person is black if a person was extremely racist he would have said a lot worse things he made it clear it wasn't used in a 'I'm white and superior way' "If Lyssa brought a black guy home ya da da... it's not that they're black, it's none of that. It's that we use the word n*gger. We don't mean you f*cking scum n*gger without a soul. We don't mean that ****. But America would think we mean that."

Now do not think I am totally defending what he said his language was horrible and could have addressed it in a better way. And the use of the word does show plenty of ignorance and stupidity to say it knowing the consequences behind saying it and how people might take it.

But A&E probably made the best business choice. I do not think that they suspended the show simply because they think it was a horrible thing he said....thats not usually how business works. They suspended him because the attention it will draw. Ratings are probably going to drop in the first place and secondly A&E would not want to be associate with controversial acts and if they do end up airing episodes again it will be when things die down, but its hard for any company to allow themself to be in the middle on controversy.

Answer 10

First of all,quit crying racism.Just because he said something negative does not make you a racist.He more than likely is prejudice but I am convinced by his portrayal on television that he truly cares for all people although he may prefer to refrain from associating with his son Tucker.

Answer 11

A&E has the right to cancel any show they like for any reason.

I think on his show, Dog tries to convey that he is a "good" guy who is really about helping people.

Obvioulsy, by his conversation, that is not really the case. If he had told his son he just didn't like his girlfriend, that would be one thing. But to make her not welcome because she would hear him use the N word reveals that he knows his use of the word is wrong. He didn't care about that, just what it would do to his career.

Plus, his own son releasing the recording...wow! This is a family with serious problems.