Warren, Michigan mayor Jim Fouts is in hot water again after a new batch of tapes were released on Monday featuring a voice sounding identical to his making a variety of degrading, racist, and sexist remarks. The tapes, which feature a voice many believe to be the mayor's comparing African Americans to chimps and calling women a variety of demeaning names, were released on Martin Luther King Day. Not long after their release by the Motor City Muckracker, Fouts appeared, ironically, at an MLK Day event where he was announcing the city's new diversity coordinator.
Just like with the last batch of tapes the Muckracker released, which showcased the same voice insulting the disabled, the mayor is denying the audio's veracity, claiming that they are fakes put together by Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel. In a Facebook post, Fouts called the audio a "phony manufactured tape to distract from my outstanding record as Mayor." Hackel has denied being involved in the release of the new recordings, though he was part of making the earlier batch public.
In the audio below, you can hear a male voice identical to Fouts' say, “Blacks do look like chimpanzees. I was watching this black woman with her daughter and they looked like two chimps."
Other snippets use the N-word, and refer to older women as "mean," "hateful," and "dried up." You can hear all of the clips on the Muckracker's Soundcloud page. The first batch, where the voice alleged to be Fouts' insults the disabled, can be heard here.
In light of the recordings, many are calling for Fouts to resign, including the mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
City Councilman Scott Stevens said he wanted the mayor to take a polygraph and have his voice analyzed in order to determine if the recordings are legitimate.
