While you can't teach an old dog new tricks, A&E apparently hopes Duane "Dog" Chapman can at least learn from his past mistakes.
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A&E had suspended production on Dog the Bounty Hunter's fifth season and pulled reruns of the show's first four seasons off its primetime programming schedule last November after a taped phone conversation in which Chapman could be heard repeatedly using the N-word was made public by The National Enquirer.
"Over the last few months, Duane 'Dog' Chapman has taken and continues to take the appropriate steps in reaching out to several African American organizations in an effort to make amends for his private comments to his son which were released publicly," said a statement from the network, according to Reuters. "Since the premise of Dog The Bounty Hunter is about second chances - we have decided to give him one."
A&E has not yet set a premiere date for Dog the Bounty Hunter, according to Reuters. When reached by Reality TV World, the network was also not immediately available to provide information about when the show's reruns would return to A&E's broadcast schedule.
The taped phone conversation, which took place last March, was allegedly sold by Chapman's son Tucker to The Enquirer, which subsequently made the tape available to the public. In the conversation, Chapman and Tucker are discussing the possible fallout of using the N-word around Tucker's girlfriend Monique Shinnery, who is black.
"I don't care if she's a Mexican, a whore, whatever," Chapman said in the tape. "It's not because she's black, it's because we use the word n***er sometimes here. I'm not going to take a chance ever in life -- losing everything I worked for for 30 years -- because some f**king n***er heard us say n***er and turned us into The Enquirer magazine. Our career is over. I'm not taking that chance at all. Never in life. Never."
Chapman subsequently issued a written apology, explaining he was "disappointed" in Tucker's friendship with Shinnery "not due to her race, but her character." In addition to his formal apology, Chapman also personally asked for forgiveness from the public during a November appearance on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
