Celebrity bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman, whose reality TV show has been pulled from the air indefinitely after he used a racial slur, says he still loves the son who sold the tape of his private remark.
US Cable channel A&E took the popular show, Dog the Bounty Hunter, off its schedule for the foreseeable future after a private phone call in which Chapman used an offensive term to describe his son Tucker's black girlfriend hit the Internet.
Chapman said his son Tucker had sold the tape of the conversation that dates back to March to The National Enquirer but he did not know why.
PHOTO: AP
"He will not talk to me," said Chapman, who has 12 children and has been married five times.
"His mother's in on it with him. I have been away from her since the 1980s so now she is like getting even," he told the Larry King Live show on CNN on Wednesday night.
A teary Chapman, who has apologized repeatedly since the tape was made public and promised to make amends, said he had used the epithet "nigger" on a heated call with his son while admitting he was probably interfering in his life.
PHOTO: AP
Chapman said Tucker had been sent to prison at the age of 18 and served four years of a 20 year sentence for armed robbery before being released on parole.
"I tried to take control of his life (after this)," said Chapman, himself an ex-con. "I heard this girl was maybe not being the best for Tucker - and I'll leave it like that - so I tried to interfere.
"I don't care if she is black at all. He's on parole for a 20 year sentence and if he messes up he goes back."
Meanwhile, Prince is taking legal action to stop Web sites from using copyrighted images, a concert promotion company announced last week.
Contrary to reports, the Purple One is not suing his fans or looking to inhibit free speech in any way, AEG, which promoted Prince's concert series in London, said in a statement.
"The action taken earlier this week was not to shut down fan sites, or control comment in any way," the statement read. "The issue was simply to do with in regards to copyright and trademark of images and only images and no lawsuits have been filed." Three Web sites published copyrighted images and live photos from Prince's London concerts, according to AEG. "Mediation between the parties is currently resolving the matter," the group's statement said.
Prince intends to offer some material for free online, bypassing "phony fan sites that exploit both consumers and artists," AEG said.
The promotions company said one of the alleged violators, Pirate Bay, is "exploiting copyrighted material for their commercial gain." Representatives from Pirate Bay did not immediately return a request for comment.
Michael Jackson, who some people used to think was cooler than Prince, is refinancing his Neverland ranch in California and is not in danger of losing it to foreclosure as media reports have suggested, his spokeswoman said.
Spokeswoman Raymone Bain on Friday denied the pop superstar had defaulted on a US$23 million loan on the central California ranch and said he was in the final stages of refinancing.
The Neverland Valley Ranch, named after the Peter Pan story of the boy who would not grow up, has amusement park rides and a zoo and was where Jackson hosted young boys for sleepovers.
Records from Santa Barbara County this week showed that Neverland was listed on its monthly foreclosure report.
The foreclosure detail and default information said Jackson owed US$23.2 million on a US$23 million loan on the property, which he abandoned after his 2005 trial and acquittal on child sex abuse charges.
"Contrary to published reports, Mr Jackson was never in default of the loan. Mr Jackson is in the final stages of refinance and will not lose Neverland Valley Ranch," Bain said in a statement.
Bain said Jackson refinanced Neverland in 2006 and that the loan had matured in October 2007. He is now refinancing again.
Jackson, 49, shuttered Neverland after his trial and lived in Ireland, Dubai, Bahrain and Las Vegas. He gave his first US magazine interview in a decade this month to the African-American monthly Ebony, which said he was now living on the East Coast.
Jackson flew to Los Angeles on Thursday to attend the 66th birthday celebrations of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who became the pop singer's "spiritual adviser" during the 2005 trial.
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