Responding on his August 2 broadcast to a protest that the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) launched regarding remarks pointed out by Colorado Media Matters on August 1, Fox News Radio 600 KCOL host Scott James stated that the controversy “all stems from the one website that loves to make me their whipping boy.” On his July 31 Ride Home with The James Gang broadcast, James made what GLAAD characterized as “defamatory, anti-gay comments equating the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community with child molesters” while responding to a listener's instant message on the topic of hate crimes. The listener's message had suggested that those who “speak[] against homosexuality” might be targeted as “hate-crime criminals” and that the “end purpose” of such purported restraints “is to get rid of the word of God.” As Colorado Media Matters noted, James responded, "[D]o you honestly believe it's that divisive? Or do they just want everybody to be politically correct and be tolerant and get along? 'You must accept me in my homosexual and/or perverted, i.e., child molestation ways. You must accept it.' "

Early in his August 2 broadcast, James stated, “I've seen the liberal machinery in action today and in action against me. And ... the efficiency is amazing.” In an apparent reference to GLAAD, James continued, “They are demanding an apology for something I said that, which quite frankly was a slip of the tongue. So therefore, I'm not going to apologize for a mistake.” He later added, “If you are so thin-skinned that you are offended by my words, then I will apologize to you for that. I am sorry that my -- you took offense to my words. I will not, however, apologize for an innocent mistake that I made.”

On August 3, however, James published an open apology on his 600 KCOL Web page that began, “While many of you do not know me any more than what you have read in the GLAAD Alert and on the pages of the Media Matters website, I would like you to know that it is never my intention to offend and it deeply upsets me when my words have that affect (sic).” His apology continued:

My comments on our program on 7/31 were a mistake -- a slip of the tongue combined with my inability to express in the moment my reaction to an instant message I received from a listener. The conversation in question occurred as a small part of a larger conversation on hate crimes. The “instant messenger” stated that some proposed hate crime legislation went as far as to propose criminalizing those who would stand in a pulpit and condemn homosexuality. I brought Jack McClellan in to the conversation. This man is obviously a pedophile but claims to have never acted on his perverted thoughts. Therefore, he has broken no laws. Punishing him for his thoughts would be every bit as wrong and punishing someone who speaks out against homosexuality for their thoughts. That is the parallel I was endeavoring to illustrate. Obviously, I did a very poor job of verbalizing my thoughts and offended many in the process.

I certainly did not mean to equate homosexuality to child molestation and after reviewing the recording of that program I certainly understand how members of the GLBT community would take my ill-spoken words as offensive and I most certainly owe them an apology. [emphasis in original]

Later in his August 2 broadcast, James said, “I never want to directly offend an organization, a group, an individual,” before again stating, “Now, you might be so thin-skinned that you take offense to what I say -- it's not my fault.” He added that he would “endeavor not to say things that are mean-spirited.”

However, just before making his comment about not saying “things that are mean-spirited,” James continued his pattern of sometimes adopting a stage-German accent when discussing “liberal advocacy organizations.” James said, using the accent, “It happened with blitzkrieg precision and speed this morning. How I was contacted and an apology demanded.” As Colorado Media Matters noted, on his March 22 broadcast James adopted a German accent when he likened former Vice President Al Gore's "mass persuasion campaign" on global warming to Nazi propaganda efforts.

Additionally, Colorado Media Matters has pointed out dubious, misleading, false, and inflammatory comments James and guest hosts have made on his program about U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), former president Bill Clinton (D), torture, stem cell research, abortion, immigration reform, and the war in Iraq.

From the August 2 broadcast of Fox News Radio 600 KCOL's Ride Home with The James Gang:

JAMES: And kind listener, I'm going to beg your indulgence today, because there's a couple of things that's weighing me down. Not -- the heart thing's really bad today, and so bad I'm bugging out an hour early. Doctor Ray will come in tonight at 6. There's a couple -- I, I've seen the liberal machinery in action today and in action against me. And it's -- the efficiency is amazing.

PRODUCER: Against you?

JAMES: Against me. They are demanding an apology for something I said that, which quite frankly was a slip of the tongue. So therefore, I'm not going to apologize for a mistake. I'll apologize for a mistake, you know, and, and if some were “offended” -- “We are offended by what you said” -- you're offended by my slip of the tongue. If you are so thin-skinned that you are offended by my words, then I will apologize to you for that. I am sorry that my -- you took offense to my words. I will not, however, apologize for an innocent mistake that I made. And, and, and I might -- over the next couple of days, when I'm feeling better -- I, I might take this on and invite the people from the organization who's demanding the apology on the, on the radio with me. I'll, I want to invite them on the air. A) See if they'll have the nerve to accept the invitation. You know and what's so, what's so amazing to me is, you know, I get this demand for an apology and all of this kind of deal and it's, it's -- well, and it all stems from the one website that loves to make me their whipping boy. And, and then it's, it's like it's emailed out to all these advocacy organizations and, and the wheels start turning. And I thought, “Jeez, I've, I, I got to contact this guy.” You know, if somebody -- because, look: I mean what I say and I have morals and I have beliefs and I express my opinions. And how many times have we said this is an opinion program? Not a journalist. These are my opinions. I am a rube from the south Colorado. I'm a 25-year disc jockey. The first 10 years of my career I was a flame-throwin', fire-spittin', hot-rockin' disc jockey. I was a Top 40 guy. I was one of these guys like across the hall that I -- and, and I make fun of them every now and then because I was one of them. And so I'm just a guy with an opinion and I get the blessing on a daily basis of being able to offer it up on the radio. And you can agree or disagree with said opinion. But it's -- and if you agree with me, great; if you don't agree with me, fine too. And it's just, it's, it's absolutely amazing to me when this machinery kicks in. “And we're demanding apologies and we're sending it to you and everybody in corporate and go, go, go, go” -- and it's unbelievable to me. So if you're so thin-skinned that you took offense to a slip of the tongue that I had, then I offer my apology. I am, I am sorry that you were offended. And, and like I say, depending on how things go over the next couple of days, I'll invite these people on the radio -- a) see if they have the nerve to come on, and b) let's talk about the very issue that they're an advocate for. Because if, if their job is to truly be an advocate for this lifestyle, then I have a bunch of questions. And not mean-spirited questions, just natural questions. Let's -- please, educate me. So I, I got that going for today, which is nice.

[...]

JAMES: It's especially funny to me -- I shouldn't say funny. Funny in a curious sort of way. Funny as not amusing, ha-ha, bend me over -- but curious. The way people observe media. You know, “It must be a conspiracy.” Even on this program, I'll say liberal-dominated mass media. I'm not too sure whether it's so -- I, is there an agenda there? You know, Keith and Gail had this, this argument yesterday morning: Is there an agenda there? Maybe it was some, but I think there's as many lefties as there is righties. And so it's fascinating to me to watch people's interpretation of our parent company and guys like me, program directors who are just “absolute puppets.” Oh, just being -- “our strings are being pulled by those that sit on high in San Antonio.” Could be no farther from the truth. No -- the only corporate mandate I've ever received in five years of programming for Clear Channel radio, only corporate mandate I've ever received was one to reduce the number of commercials we air. A project from Clear Channel called “Less Is More.” That's the only corporate mandate I've ever received was to reduce the number of commercials we play. A pretty decent corporate mandate, if you ask me, [laughs], you know. And it was done with, with the objective of improving the product for those of you who consume it. And so, there's nobody on high setting an agenda, there's nobody on high telling us exactly what to do. We try within the constraints of our budgets to, to, to reflect that which goes on in our communities, within the constraints of our formats, and within the realm of what delivers a target audience -- you. We, we put together programming; we put together promotions; and, and we serve a community. And, and it's, it's, it's interesting to me to watch people think, “Well, it must be a conspiracy.” You want to watch the true mechanism? It's among these liberal advocacy organizations. How they walk in, in lock step. [Affecting a German accent] It happened with blitzkrieg precision and speed this morning. How I was contacted and an apology demanded. It was -- and, and you know what? You have the right to do that. My -- again my desk number, 970-461-2572. Call me here at 866, triple eight, 5449. We're a public, I mean, we operate on the public's airwaves. You have the right to do that. But with this organization it was absolutely amazing to me with the efficiency that it took place. Then I realized, this is their job. It's their job to lobby the media, to -- it's, it's their job to endeavor to, to, to shape public discourse in a direction that is favorable to their cause. It blew -- I, I mean, for crying out loud, Scott, how many years you been doing this? I don't know why this was such an eye-opener to you. I mean, and again, I'm not -- I'm some rube who they made the mistake of giving a talk show to. I, I'm, I'm going to work in the next couple of days and I want these folks on the air with me. I, it's, it's not a big debate or anything, it's just -- wow. And, and I was going to be upset because it's, it's always my job to entertain, to enlighten, to inform. It is, it is, it is -- but it's never my intent, “I, I'm going to get some people ruffled with that which I say.” Will I ever lie on the air? Absolutely not. Will I know the whole truth? And I know that that sounds like mishmash. To the best of my ability at that time and again I'll offer the opinion that, that goes along with that. But it is never my intent to offend. I never want to directly offend an organization, a group, an individual. Now, you might be so thin-skinned that you take offense to what I say -- it's not my fault. But I will, I will endeavor not to say things that are mean-spirited. Fair enough?