Can you really teach old dogs new tricks? Bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman says yes, and he’s starting with this one: eliminating the N-word from his vocabulary.
For those of you who haven’t been following Dog’s latest drama, the 54-year-old has been walking around with his tail between his legs ever since a private phone conservation of him using the racial slur (more than a dozen times) was released by his son to The National Enquirer.
The recorded conversation in which Chapman uses the N-word to describe his son’s girlfriend led A&E to pull Dog’s reality show from its schedule. It also touched off ire from civil rights leaders who argued Dog’s show should be cancelled.
Since then the 54-year-old reality TV star has set off on a nationwide apology tour. On Tuesday, Chapman issued a written apology urging all Americans to forgive him for repeatedly using the racial slur in the phone call to his son. He followed it up by appearing on Fox News “Hannity & Colmes” show by remarking: “Never again. This dog learns.”
In the interview with Sean Hannity, Chapman denied being a racist and said he would routinely use the N-word conversationally when talking to black acquaintances.
“I thought that I was cool enough in the black world to be able to use that word as a brother to a brother,” he said. “I’m not. I didn’t know really know until three or four days ago what that meant to black people.”
“I now learned I’m not black at all,” Chapman said. “And I never did it out of hate.”
“All black people in America I owe an apology to,” Chapman said during in the interview. “Whether, how dark I think I am, I cannot say that word. I owe the rest of the people, whether they are black or not in America, an apology because people look up to me.”
“If I could kill myself and people would forgive me, I would do that,” he said.
Heavy stuff.
Chapman also contended that he specifically apologized to his son’s girlfriend, Monique Shinnery. However, in a revealing interview with The National Enquirer, Shinnery said that Chapman’s attorney, not the TV star, called with an apology.
Chapman then made his way over to CNN’s “Larry King Live” where he told the talk show host that he used the N-word not because of Shinnery’s race, but to make a point with his son, who had served time for robbery.
“I referenced it, the only word I know, that would hurt his feelings or catch his attention very fast – never as a prejudicial or racial slur or anything like that,” Chapman said.
Then, in what I consider to be the most outlandish remark made by Chapman (in a 48-hour period where he has voiced many) Dog announced he is making a deal to be buried at a historic slave burial ground near George Washington’s Mount Vernon home.
“I want to be buried right where they’re at because I will never be forgiven as (long as) I’m alive,” Chapman said.
What do you make of Dog’s apologies?