Duane 'Dog The Bounty Hunter' Chapman Says He Is Not Racist, Believes His 'Pass' For Using The N-Word Has 'Expired'
Duane "Dog The Bounty Hunter" Chapman has hit back at allegations that he's racist, remarking that he thought he had a free pass to use the n-word.
As OK! previously reported, the 68-year-old and his fiancée, Francie Frane, did not invite his daughters Bonnie and Cecily Chapman to their wedding. Bonnie, 22, accused her father of being racist and homophobic.
She previously said she wasn't invited because of her support for Black Lives Matter. However, Duane told Entertainment Tonight that he supports the BLM movement.
The reality star was referring to his show being canceled after a 2007 phone call with his son was leaked where he used the n-word several times. He told ET that he thought he "had a pass in the Black tribe to use it, kind of like Eminem."
Chapman said that the "brothers" gave him a pass to use the word. "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," he explained.
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"My pass expired for using it but no one told me that," Chapman added. "To say a racist name doesn't qualify to make you a racist."
"If you use that word, if you use it in your regular everyday life, it makes you a racist," interviewer Kevin Frazier replied.
"She's been fed what to say," Chapman said of Bonnie's allegations. "I have three men on my staff that are gay. My daughter is gay, Baby Lyssa. I don't understand why anybody would ever say that."
"Remember, proximity does not mean that you are not racist or homophobic," Frazier noted. "Would I die for a gay man or a black man? I would lay down my life," Chapman said.
Chapman claimed that the drama began when his potential new show, Dog Unleashed, was dropped in March. Unleashed TV said in a statement that the show was canceled after they found that Chapman "used racial and homophobic epithets to attack young African American kids who star with his daughter in UTV’s The System, a show that profiles police misconduct and follows protests against white supremacy in policing."
Bonnie is reportedly still working with Unleashed TV, ET noted. "Bonnie is being brainwashed," Chapman told the outlet.
"As far as the idea that I’m being brainwashed, this is the dumbest thing my father has ever said. I didn’t believe he would go this far to discredit me so much as to say I was brainwashed. I am concerned about him. He has begun to believe crazy conspiracy theories. The only credibility my dad has to speak about brainwashing is perhaps as a victim," Bonnie told ET.
In the interview, Chapman also denied allegations that he cheated on his wife, Beth, while she was battling throat cancer. Beth passed away in 2019 at 51.
