Dog the Bounty Hunter Says He Had a Pass to Use the ‘N-Word’
Duane Chapman refutes his daughter's accusations that he's racist and homophobic. Earlier this week, Bonnie Chapman also said the Dog the Bounty Hunter star cheated on her mother, the late Beth Chapman. Duane denies that, as well.
Talking to Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier, Dog said at the time he was recorded using the N-word (audio surfaced in 2007), he thought he had a free pass to do so from the "Black tribe" or "the brothers." When pressed on what he means, he tells Frazier:
"I had just gotten out of prison in 1979 after spending time, 18 months in Texas and it was probably three-fourths from the Black tribe. So that was a word that we used back and forth, as maybe a compliment ... My pass expired for using it but no one told me that."
He defends himself further by pointing out that he's one-third Apache. As for the accusations that he's homophobic? He says his other daughter, Baby Lyssa, is gay, and he has three gay men on his staff. Frazier points out that proximity doesn't mean you're not bigoted; Chapman says he'd lay down his life for those people.
Speaking more directly to Bonnie Chapman's three-page letter on social media, Dog says his daughter has been fed things to say and has been "brainwashed" by television executives at Unleashed TV. The same executives canceled his show Dog Unleashed earlier this year, saying he'd used homophobic and racist language.
Dog's fiancee, Francie Frane, speaks to why Bonnie isn't invited to their wedding, planned for Thursday (Sept. 2). Her quote neither confirms not refutes Bonnie's statement that it was because she actively supports the Black Lives Matter movement.
"As hard as it is and as heartbreaking as it is, we had to make a decision that was very difficult for us," Frane tells ET. "We've been through hell, him and I, in the past three years. ... And I am not going to allow our day to be ruined by this nonsense."
Finally (for now), Duane Chapman insists he was faithful to Beth as she was dying of cancer in 2019, saying he was in the hospital with her the whole time. "So when did I have time? I am a good man. I would have never done that," he tells Frazier. The ET article does not acknowledge another accusation of Bonnie's, that her dad threatened her with physical violence when she was young.
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