A&E Retrieves Dog

A&E confirms Dog the Bounty Hunter will return to its lineup this summer despite its host's racist rant

By Josh Grossberg May 15, 2008 2:48 PMTags
Duane 'Dog' Chapman, Beth ChapmanSteven Crantz, PacificCoastNews.com

Dog just got tossed a bone.

After being yanked by A&E last year following a racial rant by its titular star, Dog the Bounty Hunter is coming back to the cable net this summer.

"It's not about ratings," A&E spokesman Michael Feeney said. "We know his heart. We know him and know he's not a racist."

Flanked by members of his family and a representative from a civil rights group, Duane "Dog" Chapman turned up at a press conference in his native Honolulu Wednesday to announce his return and once again express remorse for using language that nearly torpedoed his tube career.

"There was one perfect person, and they called him Jesus Christ," he said. You have to...realize that everyone is human, and you can err."

Chapman, 55, issued a public mea culpa last November after son Tucker leaked a private telephone call in which the elder Chapman repeatedly uttered the N-word in reference to the younger's African-American girlfriend.

The resulting flap forced A&E to shelve its flagship series, one of the highest-rated shows on cable, routinely drawing 2 million viewers per first-run episode.

Production on the fifth season is now under way. Reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter are expected to begin airing June 25, followed by all-new episodes a few weeks later.