On the August 9 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, Air America's Randi Rhodes accused nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz of making slanderous statements against Muslims, and she urged King, his producers, and viewers to “go to mediamatters.org and look up what Neal Boortz has said." Rhodes accused Boortz of calling “every Muslim a raghead” and said that he “called Muhammad, who is their prophet, a raghead” and a “phony.” Boortz denied Rhodes' accusations, stating, “If Randi can come up with an instance where I called all Muslims ragheads, I have a $5,000 donation to Air America.”

Boortz continued smearing Muslims on the August 10 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show, during which he stated, “It is perfectly safe to say all terrorists are Muslims. All of them. If it was not for the religion of Islam, this world would be a much, much, much more peaceful place today. If it were not for the religion of Islam, there would be many thousands, maybe tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people alive today living peaceful, happy, and fulfilled lives than there are. Agony, misery, death is occurring all over this world, brought to us by the wonderful, peaceful religion of Islam.”

Although Media Matters for America has not documented Boortz using the specific term “raghead,” on the July 19 edition of his radio program, he called the prophet Muhammad “a phony rag-picker” and stated that Islam is “a religion of vicious, violent, bloodthirsty cretins.”

On the August 4, 2004, edition of his radio program, Boortz mocked Shahada (the Islamic creed), which reads, “There is no true God but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” Boortz then stated, “Say that with conviction, folks, and the next thing you know, you're strapping on a suicide bomb.” During the same broadcast, Boortz read from a book titled A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. Boortz read a list of topic headings -- “It goes into things like the universe, and the cosmos, and how wind moves clouds” -- before making his point: “I'm looking for the part in here where it tells them to go out and kill people who aren't Muslims. And then I don't see it.” Boortz then dismissed Muhammad as “a guy who got bored selling secondhand clothes,” and then started a religion.

From the August 9 edition of CNN's Larry King Live:

RHODES: You know, Neal, I've heard you call every Muslim a raghead. I've heard you, you know, say horrible things about Muhammad. This doesn't help us in the world. Do you understand? This doesn't help us.

BOORTZ: Now, Randi -- Randi, I'll tell you what.

RHODES: This is really critical mass. It's not fun anymore, OK?

BOORTZ: Randi --

RHODES: If you -- if you don't understand that Lebanon --

KING: Randi --

RHODES: -- that the civilians in Lebanon did nothing, they should be rewarded for getting Syria out of there.

KING: Neal, did you --

RHODES: Condoleezza Rice, Brent Scowcroft, Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel --

BOORTZ: Larry, Randi's not through talking yet.

RHODES: -- they can't all be wrong, and they all agree with me.

KING: Randi, hold it a second. Randi! Randi, hold it a second. Neal, did you say such a thing about Muslims by the way?

BOORTZ: No and, if Randi can show --

RHODES: No? No, you didn't say --

KING: Randi, don't interrupt. Let him respond.

BOORTZ: Larry, are you kidding? You're asking Randi not to interrupt? You've been doing this longer than that, Larry. You know better than that. If Randi can come up with an instance where I called all Muslims ragheads, I have a $5,000 donation to Air America, so come on, Randi.

RHODES: You owe me $5,000 for Habitat for Humanity. You'll hear the audio on my show because, Larry, I don't know that your producers can get it --

BOORTZ: That's fine.

RHODES : -- but it's on mediamatters.org, the actual audio.

KING: All right, we're off topic, we're off topic.

BOORTZ: Now remember, I called all Muslims ragheads? I don't use that term.

RHODES: You called --

BOORTZ: Oh, Randi, why don't you --

RHODES: You called Muhammad -- you called Muhammad, who is their prophet, a raghead. You called him a phony.

BOORTZ: No, I did not.

RHODES: Let your producers go to mediamatters.org and look up what Neal Boortz has said --

KING: Hold it, hold it, hold it. Guys, we're off topic, or I'm going to cut this short.

RHODES: -- about this religion.

KING: Please stay on topic.

RHODES: You know, it doesn't help, though, Larry. The point is --

KING: The topic -- hold it, Randi.

RHODES: It doesn't help.

KING: Randi, hold it. Randi, hold it!

RHODES: People are really dying.

KING: Randi, you don't help your cause by talking too much. Hold it, just one at a time. Neal.

From the August 10 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show:

BOORTZ: Why, why, tell me, why won't these news outlets describe these terrorists as Islamic or Muslim? There are, of course, few exceptions, because I'm going to get somebody to call in: “What about Timothy McVeigh?” I mean, there is always, there is always an exception. Damn few. So few that it is perfectly safe to say all terrorists are Muslims. All of them. If it were not for the religion of Islam, this world would be a much, much, much more peaceful place today. If it were not for the religion of Islam, there would be many thousands, maybe tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people alive today living peaceful, happy, and fulfilled lives than there are. Agony, misery, death is occurring all over this world, brought to us by the wonderful, peaceful religion of Islam.