Warren Mayor Jim Fouts calls gay slur recording attributed to him 'phony'
WARREN, Mich. (FOX 2) - The mayor of Warren is saying new audio recordings attributed to him in which he uses a homosexual slur are phony, calling them manipulated using his voice.
Deadline Detroit obtained a recording they claim matches the 76-year-old mayor, in which he allegedly refers to homosexuals as 'f***' and complains the media's work was like being raped. These recordings have not been authenticated by FOX 2.
Deadline Detroit reports that the voice closely matches Fouts, who was allegedly caught on recordings almost years ago referring to black people as chimps.
RELATED: Audio attributed to Warren Mayor Jim Fouts refers to homosexuals with derogatory term
In the new recording, which Deadline Detroit says was made secretly in the mayor's office, the voice says:
The online journal believes that Fouts was complaining to the media, revealing his true age was like being raped.
Charlie Langton: "That sounds like you, doesn't it?"
Fouts: "It sounds like a manipulated, manufactured effort at utilizing my voice."
Langton: "That's not your voice?"
Fouts: "No. ... I think it's manipulated."
Langton: "By who?"
Fouts: "I don't know."
Chad Selweski of Deadline Detroit tells FOX 2:
Fouts: "It's out of context, I don't even know what..."
Langton: "Do you care what people -- how old are you?"
Fouts: "I'm 76."
Langton: "So the story's done, right?"
Fouts: "I guess the story is done."
Langton: "What would you say to those people that maybe think that Jim Fouts, mayor of Warren, is either a racist, homophobe, bad guy?"
Fouts: "Judge me not by phony tapes, judge me by my actions."
The mayor said he does not plan to resign and does plan to run again. He said he believes the people behind the tapes will manipulate the media to do their dirty work.
The recording comes two years after the Mayor was alleged to have been caught on tape saying disparaging things about mentally challenged people.
In those recordings, a voice says, "Tonight I am going to meet a bunch of retards. Tonight is retard night." In a second recording, a voice that sounds like Fouts says, "Fine I guess, what good are they, they are dysfunctional human beings. They are not even human beings."
A month later, more recordings surfaced in which Fouts was alleged to have used the n-word, called a 60-year-old woman a 'ugly hag', and other foul language:
"You know, Blacks do look like chimpanzees. I was watching this Black woman with her daughter and they looked like two chimps. Their mouths were elongated up, duck-ish like," one of the recordings says.
"I remember this one kid in my class, I told you, some years ago he said - we were at a party store - he says my dad had rules: only two N****** at a time," another recording says.
"You think I want to date a f****** 60-year-old hag? F*** that s***. I'm not interested in any old ugly hag. I think after a certain age, they're all dried up, washed up, burned up," another recording says.
"They are p****** when they are young, and when they get older, they're just mean, hateful dried-up c****," he allegedly said.