Dog The Bounty Hunter Returns! Racism? What Racism?

Several months after Dog The Bounty Hunter was yanked off the air by the A&E channel, it's back! Before we delve into the deeper doggie issues, here's a quick recap for all of you who may have been living under a rock, or perhaps in seclusion for the past year:

Duane Chapman AKA Dog of Dog the Bounty Hunter, was taped by one of his son's going on a racist tirade against his black girlfriend. Snippets from the conversation include:

"We use the word n***** sometimes here, I'm not going to take the chance ever in life of losing everything I've worked for for 30 years 'cause some f****** n***** heard us say n*****."

Naturally, many people found this to be offensive, and as advertisers withdrew their support from the show, A&E was left with little choice but to pull the show off air entirely. This move was met with great sadness from Dog's fan base, who did not necessarily condone his racist speech, but quite enjoyed the over hyped drama of watching Dog hunt down ice heads in the leafy suburbs of Hawaii.

Dog immediately went on a PR campaign like none other you have ever seen. He appealed to the Reverend Al Sharpton, he went on several national television shows, apologizing profusely for the language he had used, and claiming that he, in fact, felt a very close brothership with black people, and that the use of the 'n word' was merely a poorly expressed symbol of that closeness. In short, Dog claimed that, for a moment or two there, he forgot that he wasn't black.

Fair enough, I think we've all occasionally forgotten things. Just yesterday I called my doctor to schedule a testicle exam before remembering that I'm actually a woman and don't have any to examine. I bet you all have similar stories from equally absent minded episodes in your daily lives.

Let me say that I am a huge fan of Dog, and I love watching the show, absolutely love it. However, let's face it, if you listen to the tape, (something you can do HERE if you feel like listening to Dog dropping some serious F and N Bombs), Dog didn't forget that he wasn't a black man. He was well aware of the effect that his use of the N word would have on the greater American populace, he says as much in the tape, telling his son that he must break up with his black girlfriend if he wants to work with the rest of the family because they use racial slurs in their place of business, and according to Duane she would be offended by this language, no doubt tape them using it, go to the magazines, and then their livelihood would be threatened. (Incidentally, the son who went to the press was named Tucker, not Brutus, as may have been more appropriate in hindsight.)

No doubt there is more to this story than meets the eye, there seems to be some serious dysfunction in the Chapman household, after all, Dog does have 12 children by various women, so things are likely to get a little complicated every now and then.

Still, never mind all that eh, blatant racism aside, the Dog is back, and we shall once more be entertained. That's the important thing.