Network pulls 'Dog' Chapman TV show

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2007/10/29/daily47.html?jst=b_ln_hl ^ | 11/2/07 | staff

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Duane "Dog" Chapman's tape-recorded tirade has cost him his TV show.

"Dog the Bounty Hunter" has been pulled off the air by A&E, the cable network announced Friday. The network stopped short of saying the show was canceled, apparently leaving open the possibility of a return with new episodes or reruns.

"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," A&E said in prepared statement. "We hope that Mr. Chapman continues the healing process that he has begun."

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Yum Brands, which advertised Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut on "Dog the Bounty Hunter," had pulled all of its ads, calling Chapman's comments "despicable."

Production of the Hawaii-based reality show was suspended earlier this week after it was reported that Chapman made repeated racial slurs in a tape-recorded phone conversation with his son, Tucker.

"Dog the Bounty Hunter" went on the air in 2004 and was one of A&E's highest rated shows, averaging 1.2 million viewers in primetime.

Chapman, who owns Da Kine Bail Bonds in downtown Honolulu, has apologized for repeatedly using a racial slur to refer to his son's girlfriend, who is African American.

The Associated Press reported on Friday that Tucker Chapman taped the phone call with his father, and sold it to the National Enquirer, which posted the tape on its Web site on Wednesday.

[George W. Bush]

I suppose using the word niggard to describe someone would be enough to get one fired these days.

Actualy, I recall some big stink because someone used the word 'niggardly' a while back. They fired a mayoral assistant for using the term to describe their budget. There were several other controversies as well.

"The word's new lease of life is probably among manufacturers and retailers of sophomoric humor", wrote John Derbyshire, a conservative commentator, in 2002. "I bet that even as I write, some adolescent boys, in the stairwell of some high school somewhere in America, are accusing each other of being niggardly, and sniggering at their own outrageous wit. I bet ... Wait a minute. "Sniggering"? Oh, my God...."

Controversies about the word "niggardly" - Wikipedia

The acid test is whether you would ask a black waitress for more refills on coffee and accuse her of being "niggardly". Well, would you? Me neither. One obscure word in the English language isn't worth it.

[George W. Bush]

Look at Mel Brooks Gibson with his antisemitic outburst, Tom Cruise backflipping off Oprah's couch, etc.

Oopsie. "Mel Brooks with his antisemitic outburst' is actually pretty funny though.

[puroresu]

No one is talking about putting him in jail, are they?

No. But I've seen what's beginning to happen in Canada, Britain, Sweden, and other places that are a few years ahead of us on the Political Correctness scale. I've seen how grown men grovel or beg forgiveness for a remark made in anger or a stupid joke. I've seen the president of Harvard fired for making a scientifically defensible statement about gender differentials in math and spatial abilities. I've seen a world famous geneticist grovel and apologize, and still lose his job, for an off-the-cuff remark in an interview (he was also placed under an investigation by the British government). I've seen a Swedish pastor arrested and narrowly escape prison after one of his sermons was secretly taped in which he chastised homosexuality. I've seen anti-Islamization protestors banned from marching in Brussels because their march might incite Muslims to violence.

Things like this are creepy and they're the beginnings of something very ugly. Now, you may argue that Dog is just a crude roughneck type of guy and his dismissal isn't a big deal in the larger scheme of things. But it's not an isolated incident. It's just one more example of a growing intolerance of speech that offends certain "ideologically correct" people.

If people want to boycott Dog, that's their privilege, and A & E can fire him if they want. But at some point we're going to have to face the fact that there is a growing threat to freedom of speech and thought in most Western nations. I've sat through Diversity Training. It's one of the creepiest things I've ever been through.

[puroresu]

:-)

I figured you made a typo when you said Brooks instead of Gibson! I did think it was funny when Brooks played a Jewish Indian in Blazing Saddles.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

Thanks. Dog has overcome a lot of adversity and I believe he will do the same here.

[elizabetty]

Words versus actions.

Words only hurt people if people CHOOSE to be hurt by words. They are nothing but air and vibrations

Dog Chapman may be considered trashy by some but his actions help people. Which he will continue to do without the TV show but this is just another case of something that is not important being given precedence over something that is.

[Blue Highway]

Maybe they'll start running "Murder She Wrote" again?

That big dog wife was one scary woman.

Are you referring to the big jowelled cheeks of Angela Landsbury? SHe always reminded me of a mysterious and heaveyweight version of Mary Poppins. Out of touch with reality, and on some kind of tutti fruity, over the counter drug that made her annoyingly nice.

[Blue Highway]

Or what would happen to said person revealing a tape of Hillary behind closed doors. She would be livid, but have someone “take care” of the problem. That person wouldn’t be among the living for long.

[Blue Highway]

Jorge, or whore hay may be illegal and maybe fights for the rights of illegals out there or just is a criminal sympathizer for the losers out there.

[Blue Highway]

I’ve never seen his show and haven’t really followed his story, but listening to his rationale, I’m guessing that his company does not employ blacks or hispanics. Just a hunch. :)

I thought one of his step sons or something was Puerto Rican. I know there is a kid of the show he calls his son that looks like neither Dog or his wife. I guess the irony is how could someone call him racist if he allowed a minority to enter his own family.

[Blue Highway]

Stab you in the back?

You should be able to use racial slurs to smear and hurt people in your family, and yet if anybody repeats the TRUTH about what you do, they are stabbing you in the back?

Talked about warped moral priorities.

What kind of Mafia "family values" do you ascribe to?

What are you an idiot? Anyone can use racial slurs in a private conversation. For one to use it in public is different. Let me guess you were one of those idiots calling for Don Imus to get fired for saying nappy headed ho's?

[Blue Highway]

I bet the kid blows through the $15k before this story fades out of the headlines in a week. Heck he may have blown it already if he is a coke/crack fiend. $15k MAY have lasted this weekend, but he might have spent it before the story even broke.

[trumandogz]

Anyone can use racial slurs in a private conversation.

I don't.

Neither does anyone in my family or any of my friends.

[Blue Highway]

I didn’t say I condone it, I just said it is their right. For the PC nation their next target is your thoughts, so you better clean it up people, if you can think it, you can be incarcerated.

[Marysecretary]

I heard it on Fox. The guy has anger problems for sure, especially with his son. Someone like Dog, who has spent a lot of time in the streets and even in jail, probably hasn’t got a problem using not only the N word but all those others he uses. I believe God is in this, allowing him to be humiliated in public for what he said. He claims to be a christian and God will let him get away with stuff for a while, but when he curses like he does in public and on tv, and even privately now, God will take him down (of course he used his worthless son to do it) in humiliation so he can repent and get on the right track. I feel sorry for him but he CAN change with God’s help. He needs to if he keeps saying he knows Jesus as savior.

[Nate505]

That is the son “DOG” turned in for doing drugs.

Really?

Wow, what poetic justice.

[Nate505]

It depends on the state. In some states (I think Colorado and Nevada are a couple) all you need is permission from one party. Which would be the guy recording the tape.

[Nate505]

No kidding. On a pure financial basis, his kid is an idiot. $15k isn’t a ton of cash, but his dad had a cash cow he could have milked second handidly for another decade or so.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

I actually agree with you, by the way and hey...there.

From what his minister said, God has been dealing with Dog on this issue of his vocabulary for awhile now - but Dog has refused to deal with it, to yield to God’s work in his life in this area. How does somebody give up a lifelong “habit”? It isn’t easy. But God can do it. And from what I heard the other night, this incident certainly has gotten Mr. Chapman’s attention - in the right way - as he claimed he was never going to curse again!

We never want to deal with “our stuff” but God does and will, eventually, if we really belong to Him....as I believe Duane does. (everybody who has ears, including me, let us listen to what God is saying to US through this incident).

[trumandogz]

I just said it is their right.

Of course it is his right to say what he wishes but it is also A&E's right to fire him.