Celebrity3 min(s) read
Published 10:23 02 Sep 2021 GMT
Dog the Bounty Hunter has admitted that he genuinely thought he has a pass on using the "n-word".
The TV star - real name Duane Chapman - alleged that "the brothers" gave him a pass to use the racist slur, but defends his use of it, saying it "doesn't make me racist".
The 68-year-old was forced to defend himself after his daughter Bonnie, 22, alleged that her support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement resulted in a rift between the pair, per The Sun.
What's more, she accused her famous father of bigotry - something he denies.
Speaking with TMZ, Bonnie claimed that Dog’s canceled reality series Dog's Unleashed, which was scrapped earlier this year, was brought to an end because her dad had used racial and homophobic slurs.
Bonnie also alleged that her continued involvement in The System - a show focused on racial injustice, police brutality, and racial discrimination - has played a part in their supposed rift.
She alleged that her dad has previously referred to BLM activists as "thugs".
Addressing such allegations during a sit-down interview with ET’s Kevin Frazier, Dog insisted: "I have never been a racist."
"I’m 33.5% Apache. But because of over 15 years ago, I have an Achilles’ heel because I used the wrong word," he added.
In a leaked phone call to his son in 2007, Dog was heard using the N-word multiple times. It led to his show being canceled by A&E.
When asked by ET why he used the word so freely, he said: "I thought I had a pass in the Black tribe to use it, kind of like Eminem."
When pressed on who gave him the pass, Dog said it was 'The brothers".
Explaining who "the brothers" were, Dog said: "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. My pass expired for using it but no one told me that."
"To say a racist name doesn't qualify to make you a racist," he added, to which the interviewer replied: "If you use that word, if you use it in your regular everyday life, it makes you a racist."
And when pressed on Bonnie's accusations, Dog said: "She's been fed what to say, 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," the interviewer replied.
"Would I die for a gay man or a black man? I would lay down my life," Dog added.
