The Shady Side Of Dog The Bounty Hunter Everyone Ignores

Duane "Dog" Chapman was a reality TV fixture from the mid-'00s to the late-'10s thanks to shows such as "Dog and Beth: On the Hunt," "Dog's Most Wanted," and, of course, the runaway hit that both launched him to worldwide fame and birthed his nickname, "Dog the Bounty Hunter." But in recent years, the mullet revivalist has been notably absent from our screens. Well, our television screens anyway.

As a proud fighter against the "woke" movement, a keen supporter of former President Donald Trump, and a celebrity seemingly determined to air all of his dirty laundry in public, Chapman is still very much active on various social media platforms. And his shady behavior on there, as well as all the misdemeanors from his past, helps to explain why the once-ubiquitous star has fallen from grace. From first-degree murder convictions and anti-LGBTQ rants to bar brawls and racism allegations, here's a look at 14 examples.

It's ironic that Duane "Dog" Chapman found fame trying to bring criminals to justice considering that during his early adulthood, he was convicted of a serious crime himself. Yes, in 1976, the reality TV favorite was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Chapman got himself into trouble during a cannabis deal-gone-wrong that ended in the accidental fatal shooting of 69-year-old Jerry Oliver. The future television star wasn't the one who pulled the trigger, though. In fact, he was in a vehicle waiting for the friend who did. But due to Texas law, which attributes responsibility to anyone indirectly involved in such a crime, he was sentenced to a five-year spell in the Texas State Penitentiary.

In the end, Chapman ended up serving just 18 months behind bars, but the conviction continued to impact his life. If you've ever wondered why he's so fond of the taser, well that's because he's not legally allowed to purchase a firearm. And, in 2012, the U.K. government decided against issuing him with the necessary visa he needed to enter the country to appear on "Celebrity Big Brother" due to his criminal record.

It doesn't come as much of a surprise that proud Republican Duane "Dog" Chapman subscribes to the theory that President Joe Biden "stole" the 2020 presidential election. However, even for the continually provocative reality TV regular, comparing the 46th to Adolf Hitler was one of his most polarizing statements.

Chapman made the shocking remark while speaking at Opening the Heavens (via Deadline), a Christian evangelical event described as a demonstration of God's prophetic heart. Who knows how comments such as, "Why did you let that freak steal the election?" fits in with this theme? But the mullet-haired bounty hunter didn't seem to care, using his platform to continually cast criticism on the reigning president. "Yeah, he stoled it — little Hitler — because now we are going to show you God's manifestation," Chapman remarked during his speech.

Even more shocking than his "little Hitler" comment was his theory about Biden's fate: "Hitler committed suicide. And do you know why? Because he was caught. And you know what's going to happen? They're going to catch these cheaters. And I'm not saying with my tongue or my mouth that he's going to commit suicide — but you never know."

In 2007, Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman was dropped by A&E after the leaking of a phone conversation in which he repeatedly used the N-word while referring to his son, Tucker's, African-American girlfriend. When asked about it in an interview with ET in 2021, far from offering an immediate apology, the mullet-haired star instead made the bizarre claim that he'd been given permission to utter the racial slur.

Duane admitted to the interviewer that such words were frequently uttered in his home. "I thought I had a pass in the Black tribe to use it, kind of like Eminem," he revealed. When asked who'd given him the pass, the reality TV regular answered, "The brothers."

Expanding upon his vague response, Duane took things back to the late 1970s when he spent 18 months in a Texas jail after being convicted of first-degree murder. The former bail bondsman claimed that he and his friends in prison, apparently 75% of whom were Black, often used the word as a term of endearment: "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."

Hell hath no fury like a mullet-haired reality star's daughter scorned. In 2021, Bonnie Chapman took to Facebook to deliver a scathing rant against her father, Duane "Dog" Chapman, that accused him of everything from promoting harmful conspiracy theories to verbally abusing members of the LGBTQ community. But it was the allegations of racism that garnered most of the headlines.

Bonnie claimed in her post (via People) that her dad had been fired by UnleashedTV for making racist and homophobic comments toward several colleagues working on his show, "Dog Unleashed." "I have expressed time and time again my ever-growing disappointment in my father's progression into his old racist ways," she wrote before offering an apology to anyone who believed that Duane was the ideal role model.

Unsurprisingly, Duane refuted his daughter's damaging claims, telling ET, "I have never been a racist. I'm 33.5% Apache." Referring to his use of the N-word in a leaked conversation about son Tucker's African-American girlfriend, he added, "But because of over 15 years ago, I have an Achilles' heel because I used the wrong word."

As well as being accused of racism, homophobia, and just general unpleasantness in his daughter Bonnie's now-famous 2021 Facebook post, Duane "Dog" Chapman was also called out for his apparent adultery.

"I had forgiven my father after my mother's death for countless actions that I shouldn't have," Bonnie wrote (via People) before revealing that one of these actions was repeatedly cheating on her late mom, Beth Chapman, including when she was receiving care for the cancer that eventually took her life. "I hated him every time he did it, but I forgave him for that because I wanted a relationship with my dad."

In an interview with ET, Duane firmly denied that he had been unfaithful at such a difficult time, arguing that he was with his wife throughout every second of her treatments: "I went home the night before she passed away with her mother and her sisters because they said, 'She won't pass away, Dog, with you standing there.' So I left. Three hours later, she passed away. So when did I have time? I am a good man. I would have never done that."

"He didn't make Adam and Steve, He made Adam and Eve." Yes, Duane "Dog" Chapman really did resort to that homophobic cliché during an interview (via Page Six) with the founder of an online Christian ministry in 2024. Oh, and he also insisted that he still had gay friends, too, despite the fact he was in the middle of a furious rant against the LGBTQ community at the time.

Chapman — who was joined by his sixth wife, Francie Frane, for the headline-making interview — did display a little more imagination elsewhere, most notably barking that "Jesus was not a sissy." He also argued that businesses that align themselves with Pride Month are taking "billion-dollar beatings" and that anyone who isn't heterosexual "[needs] to be saved."

Further backing up his daughter, Bonnie's, claims about his homophobia, Chapman also spoke about the "holy rollers" apparently on a mission to convert the nation's youth: "They've got kids changing their sexuality. They talk about tithing more than they do about what's going on. They're so wacko themselves that where they have brought us all is to the gates of hell. So we have to stop all that, rebuke them."

Due to the nature of his reality TV work, Duane "Dog" Chapman often finds himself in the midst of a heated debate. But things got a little too temperamental during the filming of one particular "Dog the Bounty Hunter" episode in 2011.

The drama began when Chapman and his crew gatecrashed La Montana Linda Restaurant in the Colorado town of Breckenridge while on the hunt for the owner's alleged bail-jumping dad. After arriving through the kitchen door, one lackey told a customer filming all the chaos (via TMZ), "I'm not a superstar ... I can f**** you up and not get charged." A brawl then ensued as another Dog associate threw a punch, with the camera-wielder receiving an injury to his eye as a result.

Not wanting to get left out of the action, Chapman then made his presence known outside the bar, barking at the owner of the restaurant, "Come on white boy ... come on mother f***er!" After being pelted with a plant, the TV personality then took out his beloved taser, but thankfully emotions cooled before he felt it was necessary to stun anyone.

Dog the Bounty Hunter and politics are never going to be a particularly enlightening mix, and so it proved in 2024 when the reality TV star appeared on Fox News to both promote his new book, "Nine Lives and Counting: A Bounty Hunter's Journey to Faith, Hope, and Redemption," and give his two cents' worth on the presidential election.

First, the man born Duane Chapman offered to boot out any illegal immigrants should former president and 2024 Republican candidate Donald Trump rise to power again, describing his process as "deport, export, and yee-haw, they're going back home." This wasn't the first time that the convicted felon had expressed such enthusiasm at the prospect, either.

Just a few months earlier, Chapman told the same network that he would be honored to take on the role of "deportation czar," adding (via Newsweek), "It doesn't matter who you are, what nationality, what tribe you belong to: If you're a lawbreaker and you're in this country illegal, and you are booted from another country because you're a felon and told to go to America, that's where we're going to start."

Duane "Dog" Chapman's reality TV career received another blow in 2021 when he was sued for breaching his contract by Unleashed Entertainment president Michael Donovan. In court documents obtained by The Sun, it was alleged that the controversial star had not only displayed homophobic and racist behavior while filming "Dog Unleashed," but that he also brandished a taser illegally.

Donovan claimed that Chapman relied upon the weapon as a form of intimidation while trying to access a particular individual's home in Virginia for the show, which never made it to air. As the TV personality had previously been found guilty of first-degree murder, the holstering of a taser device was deemed a criminal offense. While Chapman rebutted that the taser was a prop, the lawsuit alleged that the bounty hunter previously confirmed to a member of the entertainment company that the weapon was real, saying, "'Of course,'" when asked.

Dog didn't take the accusations lying down, with his legal team telling Newsweek that the Unleashed president's claims were born out of revenge after business talks between the pair broke down: "Dog is very confident that the fictional claims will be dismissed, and he then will pursue claims against Donovan for malicious prosecution."

Prepare for all your reality TV illusions to be shattered. Despite his specific nickname and title of his OG reality show, Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman isn't actually a licensed bounty hunter. Indeed, due to his first-degree murder conviction in 1976, the mullet-haired star isn't legally allowed to arrest or apprehend any individual against their will.

This shocking revelation emerged via the Daily Mail in October 2021 when Chapman had joined the hunt for then-missing fugitive Brian Laundrie, although those within the industry had known for quite some time. The Florida Bail Bondsmen Association's vice president, Mike Harrison, told the publication that Chapman could find himself on the wrong side of the law if he ended up getting physical with any target. "That would be kidnapping or false imprisonment," he stated.

Harrison also claimed that Chapman had an ulterior motive for assisting with the search: "Everybody in the business knows Dog is doing this for publicity, maybe to land another TV show. This is about getting more likes on social media, more exposure. But if he can find this kid [Laundrie], I guess more power to him." Laundrie's remains were ultimately found at a Florida park later that month, not by Dog.

Duane "Dog" Chapman risked putting himself at the mercy of a professional bounty hunter in 2022 after getting issued with a tax lien stemming from various states of approximately $1.6 million. The reality TV star reportedly owed $800,000 in both Douglas County and Jefferson County in Colorado, and over $72,000 in Hawaii, mostly from the period between 2014 and 2019.

Duane insisted at the time that everything was all under control, telling The U.S. Sun, "I've been working diligently to satisfy these outstanding debts and look forward to putting this behind us." But it looks as though he may have had to sell one of his family homes to do so.

Indeed, 13 years after buying a mansion with late wife Beth Chapman in Castle Rock, Colorado for $750,000, Dog put the house on the market. Luckily, thanks to the rise in property prices, he was able to sell it for more than twice the original price, with the 9-acre property going for roughly $1.59 million.

Duane "Dog" Chapman got tongues wagging everywhere when just a few months after the death of his beloved wife, Beth Chapman, in 2019, he began dating her former assistant and friend, Moon Angell. No one was more disapproving of the relationship than the reality TV star's daughter with ex-wife Lyssa Rae Brittain, Lyssa Chapman.

"You're disgusting woman," Lyssa wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter (via Radar Online), about her father's new beau. "Any person who moves in on a man weeks after losing his wife, who you were supposed to be a 'friend' to, is the lowest scum on the planet." She was just as scathing toward Dog, writing, "Realizing everything, and the one person I believed in more than anyone was a fake. I hope you have a bunch of barking snakes."

No doubt much to Lyssa's delight, the pair split up in February 2020. This time, it was Moon's turn to give the bounty hunter a piece of her mind. In a series of cryptic tweets, Moon appeared to lay the blame squarely at her ex. "Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company" was just one such nugget (via The Sun), with "I would rather have an honest enemy, than a fake friend," another.

There were two notable absences at the wedding between Duane "Dog" Chapman and Francie Frane in 2021: the reality TV star's two daughters, Cecily and Bonnie Chapman. While the former charitably theorized that their resemblance to their late mother may have played a part, her sister took a very different stance.

Indeed, in a scathing open letter posted on Facebook (via E! News), Bonnie argued that the reason she'd been left off the guest list was her activist work, and she had correspondence from her new stepmother to prove it: "Francie's text message confirmed that the reason I wasn't invited to my dad's wedding is my choice to participate in social justice and BLM protests with 'The System,'" a reference to the UnleashedTV show about social issues that she joined in its second season.

Dog later denied that this was a factor in her snubbing, instead insisting that it was because both Bonnie and Cecily had fallen into the wrong crowd: "I know because I've not only had dealings with them, but arrested them myself previously," he told Us Weekly. "They're my daughters and I love them, but they will learn. I'm sad they can't be a part of the wedding."

Remember how the anti-woke brigade piled on the criticism when Bud Light dared to launch an advertising campaign featuring trans TikToker Dylan Mulvaney? Well, Duane "Dog" Chapman was undoubtedly part of that crowd in 2023 after he threatened to physically attack the new face of the beer brand.

"People playing church all led to Bud Light," Chapman said during a Facebook chat (via TMZ) with online Christian ministry founder Sharell Barrera, referring to the firm's new marketing strategy before targeting Mulvaney directly. "Get that punk down. Rebuke Satan out of him and just give him a couple black eyes. That's exactly and I mean that. If I ever see him, I'm dropping him."

Chapman was condemned by some online for his violent rhetoric, with even his own daughters, Bonnie and Cecily, expressing apologies on their father's behalf. "As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I am absolutely horrified but not surprised by these comments," the former wrote (via TMZ). Eventually, the man himself walked back his remarks on the podcast, "Two Guys from Hollywood," claiming that he would actually defend Mulvaney if she was ever attacked and that he regretted making her feel unsafe.