Better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman has made a career apprehending lawbreakers. But with a criminal record and a history of violent threats and familial strife, you might hesitate to call him a good guy.
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00:00Better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, Dwayne Chapman has made a career apprehending lawbreakers.
00:06But with a criminal record and a history of violent threats and familial strife, you might
00:10hesitate to call him a good guy.
00:14Chapman found fame as a man who brings criminals to justice, but in 1976, he was the criminal
00:19facing a conviction of first-degree murder.
00:22Chapman was booked during a cannabis deal gone wrong that ended in the fatal shooting
00:25of 69-year-old Jerry Oliver.
00:28Chapman wasn't the one who pulled the trigger, but he was in a vehicle waiting for the friend
00:32who did.
00:33Due to Texas law, he was sentenced to a five-year spell in the Texas state penitentiary.
00:37In those days in Texas, there was no such thing as accessory during, before, or after
00:43the fact.
00:44Chapman ultimately served 18 months behind bars, but the conviction continued to impact
00:48his life.
00:49If you've ever wondered why he's so fond of using a taser, it's because he's not legally
00:53allowed to purchase a firearm.
00:56In fact…
00:58Despite his nickname, Dwayne Dog the Bounty Hunter Chapman isn't actually a licensed bounty
01:03hunter.
01:04Indeed, due to his criminal record, the mulleted star isn't legally allowed to arrest or apprehend
01:08any individual against their will.
01:10Daily Mail made the news public on October 2021 after Chapman joined the hunt for then-missing
01:15fugitive Brian Laundrie, but those within the industry had known for quite some time.
01:20The Florida Bail Bondsman Association's vice president, Mike Harrison, told the publication
01:24that Chapman could find himself on the wrong side of the law if he ended up getting physical
01:28with any target, as apprehending a fugitive could be seen as kidnapping.
01:34Chapman's reality TV career received another blow in 2021, when he was sued for breaching
01:38his contract by Unleashed TV president Michael Donovan.
01:42The company had worked with Chapman on his now-canceled reality show, Dog Unleashed,
01:46and court documents obtained by The Sun alleged the controversial star had both displayed homophobic
01:51and racist behavior while filming the series.
01:54What's more, he brandished a taser illegally.
01:57Donovan claimed that Chapman used the weapon as a form of intimidation while trying to
02:01access an individual's home in Virginia for the show.
02:04Because of his conviction, carrying a taser was deemed a criminal offense.
02:08While Chapman rebutted that the taser was a prop, the lawsuit alleged that the bounty
02:11hunter previously confirmed to a member of the entertainment company that the weapon
02:15was real.
02:16Chapman didn't take the accusations lying down, with his legal team telling Newsweek
02:20that the Unleashed TV president's claims were born out of revenge after business talks between
02:24the pair broke down.
02:25They said,
02:26"...Dog is very confident that the fictional claims will be dismissed, and he then will
02:31pursue claims against Donovan for malicious prosecution."
02:34In 2021, Bonnie Chapman took to Facebook to deliver accusations against her father for
02:39everything from promoting harmful conspiracy theories to threatening her with violence.
02:43But it was the allegations of racism that garnered most of the headlines.
02:47Bonnie claimed that her dad had been fired by Unleashed TV for making racist and homophobic
02:52comments toward several colleagues working on his unaired show, Dog Unleashed, and disavowed
02:57her father's regressive beliefs.
02:59Chapman refuted his daughter's damaging claims on Entertainment Tonight.
03:02"...I have never been a racist, I'm 33 and a half percent Apache."
03:062021 wasn't the first time Chapman was accused of racism.
03:11Back in 2007, he was dropped by A&E after a phone conversation was leaked in which he
03:16repeatedly used the N-word while referring to his son Tucker's girlfriend.
03:20When asked about it in a 2021 interview with ET, Dwayne explained he thought he could use
03:24the slur.
03:25"...I thought I had a pass in the Black tribe to use it, kind of like Eminem."
03:30When asked who'd given him the pass, Chapman explained that he used it often among Black
03:34inmates while in prison.
03:35"...So that was a word that we used back and forth as maybe a compliment."
03:43Chapman continued to insist that using the word did not necessarily make him a racist,
03:47despite his interviewers' protests.
03:50Bonnie's accusations against her dad also included his alleged infidelity while married
03:54to his late wife, Beth Chapman.
03:56She wrote,
03:57"...I hated him every time he did it, but I forgave him for that because I wanted a
04:00relationship with my dad."
04:02Bonnie even accused Dwayne of cheating while Beth was being treated for cancer.
04:06Dwayne firmly denied these assertions to ET, insisting he was at Beth's side every second
04:10of her treatment.
04:11Chapman claimed he only left her at the hospital at the insistence of his family.
04:15"...I went home the night before she passed away with her mother and her sisters because
04:20they said she won't pass away, dog, with you standing here."
04:23Chapman got tongues wagging when, just a few months after Beth's 2019 death, he began dating
04:28her former assistant and friend, Moon Angel.
04:31The news deeply upset Chapman's daughter, Lisa, who made her feelings clear on X by
04:35calling Angel disgusting and writing,
04:38Any person who moves in on a man weeks after losing his wife, who you were supposed to
04:42be a friend to, is the lowest scum on the planet.
04:45She was just as scathing toward her father, calling him a fake.
04:49Chapman and Angel ultimately split up in February 2020.
04:52In a series of cryptic tweets, the latter appeared to lay the blame squarely at her
04:56ex.
04:58Chapman's relationship with Angel would not be his last controversial love affair.
05:02When he married his current wife, Francie Frain, in 2021, he didn't invite two of his
05:06daughters, Cecily and Bonnie.
05:08As to why, Bonnie accused her father of homophobia, noting that she'd been left off the guest
05:13list because of her activist work.
05:15She wrote,
05:16"[Francie's text message confirmed that the reason I wasn't invited to my dad's wedding
05:19is my choice to participate in social justice and BLM protests."
05:23Chapman later denied that this was a factor in her snubbing, instead insisting that it
05:27was because both Bonnie and Cecily had fallen into the wrong crowd.
05:31He even claimed to have arrested some of their friends in the past.
05:36In 2024, Chapman appeared on Fox News to both promote his new book and give his two cents
05:40on the presidential election.
05:42First, he offered to boot out any illegal immigrants should former president and 2024
05:46Republican candidate Donald Trump return to power.
05:49I will deport, export, and yeehaw, they're going back home.
05:54Just a few months earlier, Chapman said that he would be honored to take on the role of,
05:58quote,
05:59"...deportation czar," and listed the types of people he'd like to remove from the country
06:02first.
06:03You're a lawbreaker, and you're in this country illegal, and you were booted from another
06:08country because you were a felon and told to go to America.
06:13Chapman risked being on the wrong side of a bounty hunt in 2022 after getting issued
06:17with a tax lien totaling approximately $1.6 million.
06:21The reality TV star reportedly owed around $800,000 each in Douglas County and Jefferson
06:26County, Colorado, and over $72,000 in Hawaii.
06:30Chapman insisted at the time that everything was under control, telling the U.S. Sun,
06:34"...I've been working diligently to satisfy these outstanding debts and look forward to
06:38putting this behind us."
06:39In order to do that, however, it seems he had to sell his Castle Rock, Colorado, mansion.
06:45A proud Republican, Chapman subscribes to the theory that President Joe Biden stole
06:49the 2020 presidential election, and he even compared the 46th to Adolf Hitler.
06:55While speaking at the Christian Evangelical event Opening the Heavens, Chapman told the
06:58crowd,
06:59"...I stole it, little Hitler, because now we are going to show you God's manifestation."
07:04Even for the continually provocative reality TV regular, comparing the president to Hitler
07:08was one of his most polarizing statements.
07:11Chapman even went on to suggest Biden may suffer the same fate as the Nazi leader in
07:15the end.
07:16"...Hitler committed suicide.
07:19Hitler, you know why?
07:22Because he was caught."
07:24In 2023, Bud Light released a controversial advertising campaign featuring trans TikToker
07:30Dylan Mulvaney, and Chapman had an extreme reaction, threatening violence against the
07:35influencer.
07:36Speaking with Christian ministry founder Sherelle Barrera on Facebook, Chapman said that he wanted
07:40to, quote, "...rebuke Satan out of Mulvaney," threatening to attack her if they ever came
07:45face-to-face.
07:46He was condemned by some for his violent rhetoric, and even Bonnie and Cecily expressed apologies
07:51on their father's behalf.
07:52Eventually, Chapman walked back his remarks on the Two Guys from Hollywood podcast, claiming
07:56that he would actually defend Mulvaney if she was ever attacked, and that he regretted
08:01making her feel unsafe.