Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [67]
I worried about the network’s decision day and night. Lots of people told me I had nothing to be concerned about, that after the dust settled everything would turn around. I still wasn’t sure. And then one night I went to sleep and had a dream where I was standing over my own grave. I looked at the headstone and noticed the initials A&E in the bottom right corner. They had made sure I had a headstone. God was showing me everything was going to be all right, that I would get my show back and would soon be doing what I loved most. I woke up the next morning and told Beth about my premonition.
“We’re getting the show back, Beth. I promise you, we will be on the air again soon.”
Sure enough, through the efforts of many supporters and the mercy shown by the network, on February 20, 2008, A&E announced that our show was headed back to television. The executives told me their reason for bringing Dog the Bounty Hunter back was plain and simple: Since my show is predicated on second chances, they decided to give me one too. I was in Las Vegas working on a case when I got the good word. In an ironic twist, on the very same day the network gave me back my show, Jesse Jackson accidently used the “N” word during an interview with Bill O’Reilly. I hadn’t been able to figure out why he was in my dream a few months earlier until I heard that news. But when I did, it all made sense. Of course, there was virtually no fallout for Jesse Jackson’s error. In fact, it was all but buried in the press. The upside was that from that day on, my name was no longer uttered every time someone made the same mistake.
The news of our return to television made worldwide headlines. I remember reading the scroll at the bottom of the CNN ticker with tears in my eyes. I was so happy and relieved that I broke down and cried. Everything I had worked for had hung in television purgatory for months. I knew I’d always be able to make a living, but without my show I couldn’t reach the millions of viewers who tuned in every week, with my singular message to help them get a second chance at life. If just one viewer decides to get clean, give up crime, go back to school, or be a better parent because of something on my show, then I am satisfied. Now more than ever, I dedicated myself to reaching out to those folks in any way I could, so I could spread the word that I was there to help them take that first step.
I was looking forward to getting back to work and doing what I love most. Even though the network announced the return of Dog the Bounty Hunter in February, we didn’t actually go back into production until April. We shot the new shows in Denver, where each capture we made became headlines in the local papers. Every news story written about me started out with a sentence that read something like this: “Dog, who used the ‘N’ word, captured another fugitive…” Once the show was back on the air, however, the tide began to turn toward the way things used to be before the National Enquirer story. For the first time in months I felt like people were once again judging me for the good things I was doing and were no longer just pointing the racist finger in my direction.
It felt great to be back in the saddle. I will always be grateful to A&E for their belief in me and the work I do. Everyone at the network assured me that they knew I wasn’t a racist or the kind of person who stood for intolerance.