Dog Bites Own Foot

Our old friend Dog the Bounty Hunter is in the news this week, and once again it's not because of something good. You might recall that last year Duane "Dog" Chapman, who along with Air Bud and Shrulk make up the Entertainment News Mascot Trifecta, was in the national spotlight when he surrendered to authorities for violating the extradition treaty between the US and Mexico by bringing a convicted rapist across the border. This time he's in trouble for saying a naughty word. For those who haven't heard, he a used a word that begins with the letter N when referring to his son's girlfriend who is of African decent. This is similar to the events of a year ago when Michael Richards (aka Kramer from Seinfeld) also used "the N word." I commented about that and how it compared to Mel Gibson's situation here. I could say the same things I said then, which would pretty much involve drudging up some accusations of hypocrisy, but I won't. I don't want to sound like I'm letting Dog off the hook. In fact, effective immediately, he has been suspended from the Entertainment News Mascot Trifecta and temporarily replaced by The Weekly World News' Bat Boy. Dog is apparently blaming his lapse in judgment on color blindness. "I thought that I was cool enough in the black world to be able to use that word as a brother to a brother. ...I now learned I'm not black at all." When I read that, I was reminded of the eloquent eugoogaly delivered by Derek at the funeral in the movie Zoolander: "Rufus, Brint, and Meekus were like brothers to me. And when I say brother, I don't mean, like, an actual brother, but I mean it like the way black people use it. Which is more meaningful I think." So if I understand Dog correctly, he's saying the exact same thing as Derek Zoolander but substituting "the N word" for "brother." Call me pessimistic, but I could have told him going in that his plan wouldn't fly. So now Dog is making the rounds on the talk shows apologizing to anyone who will listen as he tries to salvage his career (A&E has suspended production of his show). Judging from past celebrity mishaps, things will blow over in a few months and he'll be back. Until then, you can come here and watch the clip below (1:39) which I strung together and originally posted here as part of one of the initial Entertainment News Web Log entries.