Day of Blogging for Respect in Media - June 18, 2008

In a post on June 10, I issued a small yet formal rant about A&E's choice to resurrect a show featuring Dog the Bounty Hunter. If you remember, Duane "Dog" Chapman's son recorded a private cell phone conversation last October which featured Dog throwing around the word "nigger" like it was a frisbee in a park.

In the phone conversation, Chapman took aim at his son's Black girlfriend and made no bones about his displeasure about her skin color. (Abbreviated conversation available here.)

A&E immediately suspended filming of Duane's television series and removed the show from the air. Duane followed with A Great American Apology Tour (sample here) that wasn't worth the dust off my artificial plant.

The apologies featured all of the usual Hollywood script, including the strain to conceal the truth that he was only sorry for getting caught (not to mention his simmering desire to kick his son a "new one"). Dog even threw in the obligatory "but I have Black friends' during his interview on Larry King Live and rambled about his "respect" for Black people.

The rough-and-tumble Dog sounded like he was giving a speech written by his lawyer - including commentary about 'how much discrimination Black people already had to endure.' As if things weren't bad enough, Dog "The Nigger Yeller" Chapman went on lament that he thought he was cool enough in the Black community to use the word. (I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Excuse me...)

The Ick Factor of the whole mess gets punctuated by a glaring omission... Chapman never called the girlfriend to apologize. The closest he came to actually apologizing to her was paying a lawyer to give her a call and pretend to offer lame apologies. For A&E to overlook it all and resurrect the show after no obvious real effort was made to make sincere reparations... and to pretend that Dog can return to his "justice" role as symbol of moral character... represents a can of whackness.

A&E would have done better to not cancel the show. Where is all that righteous indignation that made them cancel in the first place? Dog's raggedy apologies didn't change a thing - which reveals A&E's actual lack of concern over the whole issue. If the skin colors were reversed, would a Black man ever be able to work the show again?

I support Yobachi in his Day of Blogging for Respect in Media. Even if Dog can't film the show, he can continue to make a very nice living with the Bounty Hunter gig that started it all. Go over, read Yobachi's post, and take time to put pressure on the A&E network (plus advertisers) to leave Dog exactly where he is... in the doghouse of our hearts.

For contacts at A&E and show advertisers:
Respect In Media - No Dollars For Dog the Bounty Hunter

For more background on Yobachi's effort:
Help Defeat the Return of Racist Dog Chapman!