We really haven’t covered Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman much before now. The only reason I’m covering him this week is because I couldn’t stop laughing at his new interview. You see, unbeknownst to me, A&E cancelled Dog the Bounty Hunter in 2012 under a cloud of controversy. The controversy was that there was some leaked audio of Chapman saying the n-word. For years, there have been accusations that Chapman’s language is pretty offensive, not just racist, but also homophobic. Who would have thought, right?? Well, nearly a decade after his show was cancelled, Chapman spoke to Entertainment Tonight about all of it and I cannot with these quotes.
The charges that he’s used the n-word a lot: “I have never been a racist. I’m 33 1/2 percent Apache… I thought I had a pass in the Black tribe to use it, kind of like Eminem,” adding that he has an “Achilles heel…I had just gotten out of prison in 1979 after spending 18 months in Texas, and it was probably three-quarters 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. To say a racist name doesn’t qualify to make you a racist.”
His “I Have Black Friends” defense: “I have more Black friends than Eminem.”
He says he’s not homophobic either: “I have three people on my staff that are gay men. My daughter [Lyssa] is gay. I don’t understand why anybody would ever say that…. Would I die for a gay man or a Black man? I’d lay down my life.”
Do I feel a little bit sorry for laughing? Yes. But I still chuckled at the insistence that he has more Black friends than Eminem and that he thought having Black friends in jail meant that he could use the n-word whenever he wants. As for the rest of it… he’s 68 years old and clearly he’s felt for years like he has a pass to say any old word he wants. He seems shocked that no one told him to shut his mouth. Also: 33 ½ percent, you guys. He 23AndMe’d himself I guess.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
STOP THIS.
Seriously! What is wrong with people??
First, it does not matter what percentage your DNA is (why is this a thing?? Eugenics, much?). If you have not had the lived experience of being treated by the state as a member of a First Nation — or any contact with the culture at all — then you cannot claim a tribal identity. You have nothing in common without that lived experience. And in fact, YOU do not claim a tribe. THEY claim you, which is important for their sovereignty.
Eminem doesn’t use the n-word, and he grew up in black culture. Meaning he experienced poverty alongside everyone else within that particular subculture (and a certain amount of classism, if not racism, from society). So Eminem is showing an awareness of racism that every white person who invokes him fails to do.
Once again, people think racism is a discussion of individual feelings. You can feel whatever you want. But if you are unable to recognize the systemic nature of racism, if you refuse to learn about or acknowledge the way it was institutionalized in the United States, if you continue to derail public discussion by attributing racism to personal feelings only, you have embraced a false narrative that is fundamentally racist. Why aren’t you interested in history? Why don’t you want to learn? Why don’t you care about other people’s experiences? Peel back those layers, and racism is underneath.
@GrnieWnie
Speaking as a FIrst Nations person and also a survivor of a Residential School, you’re incorrect about some of your first paragraph. Or, at least you are in regards to Canada’s indigenous people.
Residential schools wiped out a LOT of our culture. Whitewashed A LOT of us. If you are indigenous, you ARE indigenous, even without a Tribe.
Fair enough, I’m sure there’s a lot of complexity to the topic. But what I mean are these people (and their ancestors) who weren’t subject to residential schools because they’re only “indigenous” by way of some tenuous DNA claim or distant ancestor (but not by way of actual experience or heritage). I think someone who has had their cultural history destroyed and links severed has very much lived the indigenous experience in North America. But that isn’t how this guy is talking about it at all. He is claiming an identity (and using it defensively) on the basis of a percentage of his DNA…and nothing else. If he’d talked about his mother and her experiences, I wouldn’t be so critical.
I also read some articles about how the focus on DNA is problematic because the general concept was established by federal legislation rather than on any indigenous notion of identity. So I’m thinking about this more from the sense of decolonizing indigenous identity, rather than trying to make people without a tribe feel “less than”.
@Krystina Thanks for the correction, though, as I did write as though it were factual when it was just my understanding based on what I’d read.
I don’t know if the old rumor of Eminem using the n-word back in the late 90s or early aughts is true or not. But Eminem did write racist rap over a black girlfriend breaking up with him. He has engaged in some toxic behaviors with black and Latina female artists well into his adulthood, although that may mostly just be a part of his equal opportunity misogyny. He’s profited off of misogyny a lot in his career and has been homophobic as well.
Eminem doesn’t really use the n-word though, I think he’s gone on record about the fact that he doesn’t use it.
He shouldn’t be singing it though either.
umm as far as i know he doesn’t sing it. someone correct me but im pretty sure he doesnt use it full stop. i’m an eminem fan and i can’t remember him using it in a single song, and i don’t think he’s ever used it in an interview.
hell i don’t think he even used it in 8 mile, he just doesn’t?
obviously im biased (swear im not a stan) but em is a pretty smart, very aware of current events kind of guy. he always seems aware of racial issues in interviews when asked questions that relate to them.
Even without the n word though, he has been very problematic, and not even just 15+ years ago (although he was clearly worse when he was younger). His struggles, his liberalism, and his proximity to marginalized people are often cited as reasons for why it’s okay for women and girls to actually respect the middle-aged white male celebrity despite his bad behavior. But it’s always been a social/cultural requirement to support some pretty messed up things when the problematic liberals are females.
I’m so confused, because though Eminem is problematic AF in a lot of ways, I actually don’t remember him using the n-word in any of his raps?
I can’t make any assurances but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t use it at all, which is a sign that he actually does have black friends, unlike most of the people that think that’s a legitimate defense.
I love 33 1/2, not 32 or 34, not 1/4 or 3/4.
I’m trying to do the math on that one based on Mendelian inheritance, and I can’t figure it out.
He loos like orange leather.
HahahahaHAHA Noki – truer words were never spoken.
I spit my tea all over my cat at your comment. Kitty’s not impressed but thanks for the laugh.
Glad to assist you into the weekend with a laugh 🤣🤣🤣
He really really does lol!
What an effing idiot. His defense of using the word alone speaks to his stupidity.
It is a disgusting word used to demean an entire group of people and make them feel inadequate and subpar. No one should use the word, let alone a white male. STOP THIS NOW as @Nev said.
He needs to button his shirts. 100% of people don’t want to see droopy sunburned old-man torso.
Looks like he’s hiding an entire baked ham in his shirt. 😂
Bwahahahaha what a description 🤣
OMG! It totally looks like a ham!
He’s getting, or just got, remarried and as usual his family is a big old hot mess. Beth and Dog were big Trump supporters too, FWIW.
When i hung out in my neighborhood bar, my rule was- hey, you’re an adult, and you can use any language you want- but you cannot talk to me if you use that language. It is unacceptable.
[and i don’t care how many “black friends” you have].
I would like to continue speaking to you, i am enjoying our conversation- but i will not continue to speak to you if you use that language.
Got the point across every time.
And after the usual “black friends” defense, they changed wording and tone.
But yuck.
If you use that word, you do not have black friends. Get that reality into your heads. Case closed.
And if you think you have said friends, why the hell are you disrespecting them?
Wow @House of No, your comment was very powerful and very true.
Very true!
BLACK TRIBE? Oy…
It is mathematically impossible to be 33% any ethnicity.
I watched “Raising Arizona” this week and am operating on a new theory that Dog’s entire persona as a bounty hunter is a cosplay of Leonard Smalls in that movie.
Yuck
Ugh! I hate people who ‘play’ at being Native American. It’s so disgusting. You can’t claim a genetic ancestry so you can wear moccasins, hang dream catchers above your couch and be cooler than other Americans. Culture appropriation at it’s worst.
And about the n-word, every American knows, if you are not black, you don’t say it. So any excuse or explanation, is a lie.
I’m surprised he said Apache & not Cherokee. People usually claim Cherokee heritage.
Sigh, I’m so tired.
Why is this hunk of jerky/sun damage warning still on the air?
This is nothing new and now he’s claiming to be Native American? That part is new.
He’s a racist, sexist, homophobic, Bible-thumping (when it’s convenient) redneck who lives about an hour down the highway from me and it’s family stuff but I don’t blame his daughters for being a little cranky.
He promised Beth on her death bed there would never be another, “Mrs. Dog”, and then found a loophole 2 months later and started bangin’ the next, “Mrs. Chapman”, because “God doesn’t want him to be alone.”
Good God. Has he ever been alone?
He reminds me of a man who came in our store last night and started this whole rant out of nowhere about how Colorado is too “blue” for him, so, I asked him, “Where ya gonna go? Texas? You’d fit right in with my redneck family in Oklahoma and two of them are Veterinarians and they have horse worm medicine, so, you’d have that going for you.” He said, “”YEAH! SEE Y’ALL!
“See ya.”
33 1/2? How does that even work, mathematically?
This reminds me of this woman I knew, she was all about drama (like a wannabe Kardashian) and made this big deal about not knowing for sure who her baby’s father was. When the “results” came back (assuming a test was even done – doubtful) she said that the test showed it was 62.5% likely it was her current boyfriend’s kid. We’re all like, uh … that’s … not how those tests work, but whatev.
He sounds dumb, he is dumb, nothing more to see here.
I need advice. My racist neighbor across the street uses slurs against latino people, and as a black woman, I have absolutely no doubt he uses the n-word. Imagine my shock when he came over to my house, offering to “defend” me and my home when my husband was out of town. He flippin offered to sit in my yard all night with his gun, and offered to take me to a gun range to learn to shoot. I don’t need or want his protection, I hate guns and he’s certifiably crazy, but now do I wave to him when I see him across the street? He really feels he’s doing right, and I’m just over here, uncomfortable but not necessarily scared of him anymore. I have no idea what to do in this world we live in. ..
anyway, when I read this article, I could help but think this guy Dog and my neighbor are cut from the same baffling cloth
To Annaloo. So I saw that no one had responded yet. And your situation concerns me.
I am a white woman so please take my words with a bunch of salt. I am also the mother of a white-presenting adult WOC, so here is what I would say to her…
I would suggest that you trust your instincts re this neighbor and your personal safety.
And also think if you might be giving him more credit than he deserves re his potential danger. His fixation on guns is especially notable, as are his comments about “defending” you. As in, as much as he is willing to “defend” you right now, he could absolutely flip it *anytime* and then you would be his target.
Wave from across the street in a non-inviting manner? Absolutely, if you think it will lessen your risk. In fact, anything that you can do to safely distance yourself from him is great.
And not to support sexism, but if having your husband have a heart-to-heart with this deeply racist and misogynistic man would help with your safety? Do. It.
Support being sent from this internet stranger!
@Analoo. This super creepy. I would make sure that the other neighbors know about this – ask the other women. Is this something he does to every woman he thinks is alone and vulnerable?
He is so gross.
He and his family were always racist trash. He only became famous because a lot of white people liked watching a supposedly Christian white male apprehending non-white criminals. A Trumpian fantasy for racists.
ONE of my many, many problems with the n word, is that there IS NO equivalent for white people. Nothing that is NEARLY as loaded, dignity-robbing, and dehumanizing as the n word. So when a white person uses the n word against someone, the playing fieldset, so to speak, is already unlevel. It is simply unfair, among many other things.
I used to watch his show in college (yes I’m ashamed but it was entertaining). He is ridiculous and I’m kind of amazed he is still getting press since he show was cancelled almost a decade ago.
His new show was cancelled before it premiered. Good!
https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2565016/dog-the-bounty-hunter-reality-show-duane-chapman-unleashed-cancel
There is a link in the cinemablend story to Taste of Country that has a bit more information.
And more..
https://people.com/tv/dog-the-bounty-hunter-daughter-bonnie-accuses-him-of-racism-homophobia/