Dog the Bounty Hunter has sparked backlash after slamming LGBT children, Pride Month, and suggesting gay people ‘need to be saved’.
The reality star, 70, made the controversial remarks in an interview with Christian ministry founder Sharell Barrera, TMZ and Page Six.
‘Jesus was not a sissy,’ proclaimed reality star Dog, whose real name is Duane Chapman, as he spoke alongside his wife, Francie Frane.
Dog and Francie responded to the backlash in a statement to Mail Online saying: ‘We love all people and believe in the Word of God. The truth is we’re all sinners who need to seek repentance.’
‘We encourage everyone to read the Bible for themselves. If people don’t want to hear our beliefs, they can choose not to watch,’ the statement added.
In the interview, Dog also made a comment about ‘kids changing their sexuality,’ placing blame on Christian church leaders.
‘For many years, these holy rollers have done just that — rolled around,’ he said. ‘And you see where they’ve got us now. 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 — two ways to rebuke, in Jesus’ name, and then physically,’ he added, prompting laughter from Barrera.
‘Jesus was not a sissy … he was not a sissy man,’ continued Dog. ‘We don’t need no more sissy men…we need men and women that are willing to stand up against evil and speak the word of God.’
‘People playing at church is what led to Bud Light. I’d like to get that punk down, rebuke Satan out of him, and just give him a couple black eyes. That’s exactly — and a mean that. If I ever see him I’m dropping him,’ he said.
The reality TV star was clearly referring to Bud Light’s controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who uses the pronouns ‘she/they,’ or one of the Anheuser-Busch execs who were also caught up in the controversy.
Following the remark, wife Francie interjected, saying ‘we want to drop him in the Holy Ghost’, leading Dog to joke that she had saved him from jail.
A few minutes later, as the interviewer Barrera discussed pride in church leadership with Francie, Dog again turned the conversation about ‘Pride Month’.
‘The pride comes before the fall,’ he said, paraphrasing a Bible passage from the Old Testament. ‘That means they’re falling to the right and to the left.’
Apparently referring to gay people, Dog went on to say: ‘I have compassion for people who are lost like that, they need to be saved and delivered.’
Dog acknowledged that he has LGBT friends and family members, but argued, ‘that’s not the way God made us.’
‘He didn’t make Adam and Steve, he made Adam and Eve,’ Dog said, using a well-worn phrase.
Dog’s own daughter, Lyssa Chapman is openly gay, and she married her longtime girlfriend Leiana Evensen on a Hawaii beach in June 2022.
Although Dog did not attend the wedding in person, Lyssa told People at the time: ‘He was of course on the phone with me all morning and during.
We FaceTimed him a bunch. He was there in spirit and also electronically.’
In August 2021, another daughter, Bonnie Chapman, accused Dog of racism and homophobia in a lengthy Facebook post.
‘He has embraced old prejudices and doubled down on racist and homophobic stereotypes,’ Bonnie wrote in the post, responding to reports that she had not been invited to her father’s wedding ceremony.
At the time, Dog dismissed Bonnie’s accusation, telling Entertainment Tonight, ‘My daughter is gay, baby Lyssa. I don’t understand why anybody would ever say that.’
