All in the (Dog) Family
As we all recall, syndicated talk-show host Don Imus had his program unceremoniously yanked from the airwaves earlier this year after he referred to members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." After a bit of a hiatus, word is that he will return to the air in one month's time. No surprise here. The I-man had millions of listeners and that meant millions of dollars in ad revenues for his old employer, MSNBC. It will mean the same, in time, for his new one.
If recent history is any guide, then Duane "Dog" Chapman's Bounty Hunter show on A&E will soon be history. The self-professed "world's best bounty hunter" made the mistake of repeatedly calling the black girlfriend of one of his son's something a worse than a "nappy-headed ho." I'll give you a hint: like nappy, the word also starts with "N." The rightly offended son taped the conversation and sold it to a tabloid who in turn made it available on the web, which led A&E to "suspended production" of the show, and the rest, shall we say, is history- and not the kind on the History Channel.
Chapman has said he was "disappointed in his choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character. However, I should have never used that term." He also said he was ashamed of himself and pledged to make amends. Hart said his client is not a racist and vowed never to use the word again. "I have never seen anything that suggests he judges people by the color of their skin or racial background or anything but on their character," he said. "Duane lost his composure and made very, very inappropriate remarks, for which he truly regrets."
That's his story, he's sticking to it, and in the end that is going to work much better than rolling over and playing dead like Imus did for Reverends Jesse and Al. Here's my prediction: Bounty Hunter will go away for awhile, and then, like Imus, unceremoniously return. The show is a money-maker for A&E and though they'll turn their nose up at Dog (if they don't already) they'll hold it a while longer while they "unsuspend" production - somethng that would have been unnecessary if Dog had only referred to his son's girlfriend as just a "female of any member of the dog family."
Linked to The Carnival of the Insanities