Bounty hunter TV show off air after star's racist slur

Television bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman’s show was taken off air indefinitely by cable TV network A&E today, two days after a private phone conversation in which the reality star repeatedly used a racist slur was posted online.

“In evaluating the circumstances of the last few days, A&E has decided to take Dog The Bounty Hunter off the network’s schedule for the foreseeable future,” the network said in a statement today.

“We hope that Mr Chapman continues the healing process that he has begun.”

A&E officials said the series, one of the network’s top-rated programmes, had not been cancelled.

Chapman’s son taped a private phone conversation in which the reality star used a racial slur repeatedly, then sold it to a tabloid for “a lot of money”, Chapman’s lawyer said.

“I guess because of whatever level of anger he had of his father, he felt the need to express it in that manner,” attorney Brook Hart told The Associated Press yesterday.

Tucker Chapman could not be reached for comment. No-one answered the telephone at a Honolulu number listed under his name.

Duane Chapman issued a statement on Wednesday apologising for the comments after The National Enquirer posted a clip of the conversation in which he uses the word “n**ger” in reference to his son’s girlfriend.

The word is frequently referred to as the “N-word” because of its painful history as a racist epithet associated with slavery in America.

Chapman apologised to his son and the woman, then learned about how the tape got into the tabloid’s hands, Mr Hart said.

An after-hours telephone message for David Perel, the Enquirer’s editor-in-chief, was not immediately returned.

But earlier in the day, Mr Perel declined to say how the tape was obtained, saying what mattered was what was on the tape.

In the conversation, Chapman urges his son to break up with his girlfriend. He also expresses concern about the girlfriend trying to tape and go public about the TV star’s use of the N-word.

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.

Mr Hart said his client was not a racist and vowed never to use the word again.

“I have never seen anything that suggests he judges people by the colour 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.”

The TV series follows Chapman and his tattooed crew as they track down bail jumpers in Hawaii and other states. The show also stars some members of Chapman’s family, but Tucker Chapman is not regularly featured.

The Honolulu-based bounty hunter first grabbed headlines for apprehending serial rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster in Mexico in 2003.