On December 21, 2007, Roy Innis, the chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality and a member of the National Rifle Association's governing board, and one of the first to petition the A&E network to have the show taken off the air, met with Alicia Colon of "the New York Sun" and Chapman. Later Innis said, "After meeting with him and his wife, Beth, and hearing his side of the story, we realized that the controversy had unjustly spiraled out of control without context. Duane has taken ownership of the damage of his words and has taken on the responsibility of being a racial healer for our country... I have been with this man several times and had extensive dialogues with him. I consider him and his wife good friends. Duane is a changed man and has a higher purpose. Popular television is a wasteland of meaningless titillation and degradation. The Dog's potential to take his celebrity and turn it into something redeeming for our culture and society is immense. It is for these reasons that we want his television show back on the air."