Should he lose his show? Regardless of whether or not you like the show or like the Dog, should a person be barred from the air by a corporation, like A&E because he has privately held racist thoughts?
Not whether A&E has the right to do this (of course they do) but should his personal thoughts filter into the TV show and have A&E cancel it?
Opinions?
It would be great if you could specify what you’re referring to, or provide a link or something.
Sorry. Here is the link:
http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20071031/119389134000.html
I have no idea what he said and I never watch his show, but I never think a show should be canceled because of any comment at all. The show will be canceled soon enough when sponsors start to pull out.
At the bottom of the page are links to the audio.
After listening to it, this whole situation is incredibly ironic and it CERTAINLY doesn’t make me want to start watching his show.
He’s already a convicted murderer. How much more can he do to add onto that?
The government does not have the right to force him off the air. A&E does. The question is should a television network have the right to fire a personality who is going to severely damage their ability to sell advertising. Of course they do. Just as with the Don Imus firing, this is about an employer and an employee, not about the 1st Amendment.
Now granted, Chapman didn’t say this crap on the air, but it’s out there anyway and if his sponsors decide they no longer want to associate their brands with his name, then he can’t make any more money for A&E. If he can’t make money for A&E then they have no obligation to keep producing his show. They are not the government. They would not be putting him in jail. They would be making a business decision.
From the above link (the first link, btw, is now an article about a sex abuser on Viva La Bam):
What kids looked up to the Dog? Besides him?
I don’t see how the advertisers could possibly remain after this, especially on a show as nondescript as his- in fact, an anonymous show like this is an easy choice for sponsors to pull out of.
A professional bounty hunter might not be a great role model. Wow. I don’t care if his show is cancelled or not, but the "I’m shocked! Shocked!"nature of some the comments about these scandals always amuses me.
Also this puts the “reality” of the show in question- if this is how “Dog” actually speaks of those he doesn’t like, why don’t we hear him say in the show “let’s get that spic” or whatever?
Because he knew that would get him cancelled for sure?
He’s a goner. The show will be cancelled within a week, I’ll wager.
While I find his show amusing, he’s still a jerk. And his wife, Beth? Holy shit, where did you shop, woman? Sluts R Us? And those boobs! She could smother small animals with them.
Because he knows the cameras are there? There just a wild guess.
Chapman used to ride with a racist biker gang and did time in prison for murder (where I understand racist gangs are prevalent). A couple of his kids (including the son who apparently leaked this tape) have said that Chapman has always been a bigot when the cameras are off. Chapman himself basically confirms that with his own words in this tape (even though he makes some senseless qualifications about it within the rant).
Oh yeah of course, but now the audience knows the guy they see on TV acting polite and cool with the Mexicans and blacks he’s arresting, before the show when he was a bounty hunter but there were no camreas on him, he was probably talking to them like he did on the tape. Not that that should come as a surprise, but it should make one who didn’t realize it before realize that no reality show is capturing reality when the person knows they are on camera.
I assume most folks are like me, and have occasionally said things in a private phone call that are pretty rough. Calling for him to be fired would be hypocritical for most people, I think.
If anyone wants to read the exact words. Here they are, The wit and wisdom of Duane “Dog” Chapman (with some commentary by me):
I don’t care if she’s a Mexican, a whore or whatever. It’s not because she’s black, it’s because we use the word nigger sometimes here.
Why?
I’m not gonna take a chance ever in life of losing everything I’ve worked for for 30 years because some fucking nigger heard us say nigger and turned us in to the Enquirer magazine. Our career is over! I’m not taking that chance at all! Never in life! Never! Never!
This might sound crazy but, maybe you could just try not SAYING it. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about “some fucking nigger” HEARING you say it. Just a thought…
What fuck DO you mean them Duane?
We don’t mean that shit. But America would think we mean that. And we’re not taking a chance on losing everything we got over a racial slur because our son goes with a girl like that. I can’t do that Tucker. You can’t expect Gary, Bonnie, Cecily, all them young kids to [garbled] because ‘I’m in love for 7 months’ - fuck that!
Won’t somebody think of the KIDS?
So, I’ll help you get another job but you can not work here unless you break up with her and she’s out of your life. I can’t handle that shit. I got 'em in the parking lot trying to record us. I got that girl saying she’s gonna wear a recorder…
Tucker Chapman: I don’t even know what to say.
I think it probably offers a pretty good insight into this guy that his son tells him he’s in love with this girl and all he can do is dismiss her as “some fucking nigger” and order his son to break up with her. What a piece of shit this guy is.
Should A&E be forced to put a show on the air if their sponsors pull out? I’m not “calling for” anything. I don’t care if he stays on the air or not. But if he gets fired, it won’t be as a punishment for what he said, it will be because he can’t make money for his employer anymore. That’s capitalism.
Did you accidentally quote the wrong message?
I haven’t listened to the extract (and I admit I’ve never seen his show and I have scant sypathy for bounty hunting as an occupation), but from this transcript, I gotta say I have more sympathy for the guy then I had reading the headline.
My transliteration of what he’s trying to say: 'I’m a guy who says stuff like “nigger” a lot when in private. I can’t help it [presumably because that’s the way I was brought up or whatever - judging by the rest of the conversation, he usually talks in ‘low-class scum’]. If you bring your Black girlfriend around, chances are she will hear me say it, be offended by it, and make a big deal about it, costing me my very public job by making me out to be a racist. I do not believe I am a racist, and I do not dislike her because of her race, but because of this potential threat to my occupation, which threatens the livelihood of the whole family. She has already threatened to wear a recording device.
Therefore, while you go out with her, you must work elsewhere. I will help you find another job.’
The fact is that his use of the word “nigger” did become public, and his livelihood is threatened by it, through the recording of this very conversation. So he’s not totally crazy.
Naturally, the whole dilemma could be solved by him just not saying “nigger”. Most people manage that feat. But then, maybe that is part of his lower-class-scum persona.
