Dog the Bounty Hunter is drawing backlash after slamming LGBT children and Pride Month and suggesting gay people ‘need to be saved’.
Doug, 70, made the comments in an interview with Christian Ministries founder Sharrell Barrera on Tuesday, with leading celebrity news outlets TMZ and Page Six branding the diatribe a ‘homophobic rant’.
‘Jesus wasn’t a sissy,’ declared the reality star Dog, whose real name is Duane Chapman, speaking to his wife Francie Frain.
Doug and Francie responded to the backlash in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying: ‘We love all people and believe in God’s word. The truth is we are all sinners who need to repent.’
‘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 made offhand comments about ‘kids changing their sex’ and blamed Christian church leaders.
Dog the Bounty Hunter is drawing backlash after launching into a tirade condemning LGBT children and Pride Month and suggesting gay people ‘need to be saved’
‘For years, these holy rollers have done just that – rolled around,’ he said. ‘And you see where they’ve got us now. They changed the children’s sex. They talk more about tithing than what is happening.’
‘They themselves are so vile that they have brought us all to the gates of hell. So we have to stop all that, rebuke them — two ways of rebuke, in the name of Jesus, and then physically,’ he added, eliciting laughter from Barrera.
‘Jesus was not a sissy … He was not a sissy man,’ Doug continued. ‘We don’t need more sneaky men… we need men and women who are willing to stand up to evil and speak for God.’
Later in the interview, Dog repeatedly turned the conversation unprompted to LGBT issues.
‘People play in church leading to bud lights. I want to take that punk down, beat the devil out of him, and give him a few black eyes. That’s right – and a mean one at that. If I ever see him I’m dumping him,’ he said.
The reality TV star was apparently referring to Bud Light’s controversial partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Dog did not specify whether his physical threats were directed at Mulvaney, who uses the pronouns ‘he/they’, or one of the Anheuser-Busch execs who were embroiled in the controversy.
After the comment, wife Francie quickly interjects, ‘We want to throw him in the Holy Spirit’, leading the dog to joke that he saved her from jail.
Interviewer Sheryl Barrera describes herself as an Apostolic Revivalist and is an author, TV host and podcaster on Christian topics.
One of Dog’s daughters, Bonnie, previously accused him of homophobia, which he denied
A few minutes later, as interviewer Barrera discusses pride in church leadership with Franci, Dog turns the conversation again, thinking about ‘Pride Mass’.
‘Pride comes before a fall,’ he said, paraphrasing a biblical passage from the Old Testament. ‘That means they’re falling right and left.’
Apparently referring to homosexuals, the dog said: ‘I have compassion for people who are lost like this, they need to be saved and delivered.’
Dog admits he has LGBT friends and family members, but argues, ‘God didn’t make us this way.’
‘He didn’t make Adam and Steve, he made Adam and Eve,’ said the dog, using a well-worn phrase.
Dog’s own daughter Lisa Chapman is openly gay, and married her longtime girlfriend Leanna Evensen on a beach in Hawaii in June 2022.
Dog’s own daughter Lisa Chapman is openly gay, and married her longtime girlfriend Leanna Evensen in June 2022 on a beach in Hawaii (above).
Although the dog didn’t attend the wedding in person, Lisa told PEOPLE at the time: ‘He was definitely on the phone with me all morning and time. We FaceTimed him a bunch. He was there in spirit as well as electronically.’
In August 2021, another daughter, Bonnie Chapman, accused Dog of racism and homophobia in a lengthy Facebook post.
‘She took old prejudices and doubled down on racist and homophobic stereotypes,’ Bonnie wrote in the post, responding to reports that she was not invited to her father’s wedding.
At the time, Doug dismissed Bonnie’s allegations and told Entertainment Tonight, ‘My daughter is gay, baby Lisa. I don’t understand why anyone would say such a thing.’