Follow the money he's protecting his pocketbook.
MANAA’s Aoki said he appealed to Leno’s new employers at Fox, where he hosts the game show “You Bet Your Life,” initially offering them an ultimatum of firing the host or MANAA would approach sponsors to boycott the project.
“At the time I did those jokes, I genuinely thought them to be harmless,” Leno said in a joint press release with MANAA leader Guy Aoki. “I was making fun of our enemy North Korea, and like most jokes, there was a ring of truth to them.”
So the bottom line is he told the truth and is now apologizing for it.
Oh well I guess I'll just keep the pile of original SHOGUN document's I have and the original 001 Production tag. He's always claimed his car was 001 but it's 003. I gave him that tag years ago. Last time I saw the car he still hasn't put the tag on. I guess it ruins the story. The first one built (blue) was Beck's demo. That got serial number 2 because the guy who bought the second car (red) paid extra for it to be 001. Leno's (silver) is 003. Chuck got the tags in time for 4-7 to have them installed. The yellow prototype never got a number.