Mayor James Fouts of Warren, Mich. is currently doing all he can to avoid a major scandal after independent media outlets have released audio of him allegedly comparing Black people to chimpanzees and degrading older women.

“Blacks do look like chimpanzees; I was watching this Black woman with her daughter and they looked like two chimps,” a male voice can be heard saying in a recording published by Motor City Muckracker.

The voice, which is believed to be Fouts, later used the “n-word” in another recording before making derogatory comments about older women, going as far as to use the phrases “old, ugly hag” and “burned out.”

“Think I want to date a f-cking 60-year-old hag?” the voice says. “F-ck that sh-t. I’m not interested in any old ugly hag. I think after a certain age they are dried up, washed up burned out.”

Fouts was actually called out for the recordings in public on Monday during an event meant to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. The mayor denied that the recordings were of his own voice and repeated the sentiment on a Facebook post later that day where he literally listed off multiple examples of his “great efforts at inclusion.”

“Just attended what should have been a joyous occasion for our 4th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ceremony,” Fouts said.  “Instead Mark Hackel and friends attempted to hijack this ceremony by releasing more vile, vitriolic, phony tapes against me. This was timed so that they came out just before our noon ceremony.”

This recording scandal comes only a month after Fouts was reportedly captured on tape ridiculing someone who was mentally disabled, according to WXYZ.

While Fouts did all he could to distance himself from the recordings, local state officials have come out against him. Some of which have gone as far as to confirm that his voice is in fact the one on the tapes and, as a result, he should resign from his position.

“We have listened to the audio tapes with the voice we recognize of Mayor Jim Fouts,” said —- according to the Detroit Free Press. “These comments are hateful. They are racist and disparaging of women. The leader of our state’s third-largest city should be a role model for how we treat each other and anyone that harbors these feelings and expresses them is not fit to lead.”

“We believe that these comments, and the previous comments about people with disabilities, do not represent the people of the City of Warren. Therefore, we believe that it would be best for the people of Warren for Mayor Fouts to resign, and we call on him to do so.”

The besmirched politician returned to his Facebook to condemn the accusations and says that he won’t resign and will see his term through to the end after winning the 2015 election with 85% of the popular vote.

“I will be here through at least 2019 as the people wanted me to,” said Fouts. “I will not capitulate to a rush to judgement by those who wish to take over city hall and hijack the 2015 election.”

Photo Credit: Jim Fouts’ Facebook