Kicking Dog when he’s down

What happened

A&E reportedly pulled the popular cable reality show of Duane “Dog” Chapman after the National Enquirer obtained a taped telephone conversation in which Chapman used racist language, including the N-word. Dog the Bounty Hunter was the cable channel’s top-rated reality show, but at least two sponsors pulled their ads despite a public apology from Chapman.

What the commentators said

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“Well welcome to reality,” said the Cinema Blend celebrity blog. “Big, dumb, brutish men who don’t know any better sometimes use the N-word in private conversations.” But this falls short of proving that Chapman is a racist. What Dog said during one phone call—no matter how stupid and offensive—should not be allowed to ruin his life.

You really have to twist yourself into knots to defend Chapman, said the News Hounds blog. Sean Hannity gave it a whirl on his Fox News talk show, parroting Chapman’s explanation of the incident. It seems Chapman was raving “that he didn't want his son's ‘N-word’ girlfriend around” because Chapman uses the N-word, and she might tape him one day and ruin his career. “Is there any sane person who doesn’t find that troubling?”

What a lovely family, said Chelsea Daus in the Albany, N.Y., Times-Union’s The Breakfast Club blog. First the father uses a word that “should be erased” from the English language, then his son, Tucker, rats out his dad by selling the tape he secretly made to the National Enquirer for $15,000. Chapman may be a jerk, but he still has rights.