These lead to calls for Fouts resignation. Fouts stated that the voice on the recordings wasn't his and they were part of a smear campaign by Mark Hackel, but audio forensic experts were able to confirm that the voice was his, and that the recordings were not edited. In a post on Facebook, Fouts declared his intention to remain in office through to the end of his term in 2019. On March 27, 2017, the Macomb Election Commission rejected the wording of six potential recall petitions all aimed at the removal of Fouts from office. On December 18, Deadline Detroit released audio recordings of a person whom they claimed to be Fouts referring to homosexuals as "fags" and to media coverage as being like rape. The voice on the recording said ...is personal to me, just like being a ‘fag’ is personal to somebody, being fat is personal to somebody, being a, uh, a dimwit is personal to somebody. That is personal to me. It is very – it’s like I’ve been raped, like I’ve been accosted. Then the goddamn Warren Weekly... The Warren Mayor denied the authenticity of the recordings calling them "phony, manipulated, manufactured and out-of-context." He blamed political opponents who want to take attention away from "good things" happening in his city for the recordings. On October 21, a person using the name "Joe Warren" posted a video online that included audio recordings of a person saying he would enjoy shooting Fouts ex-chief of staff Henry Krzystowczyk. Krzystowczyk died in May 2019. Warren attributed the recording to Mayor Jim Fouts. Fouts denied the voice was his. In November 2019 Fouts was reelected to a 4th term. His opponent Kelley Collegio won the votes cast at the polls, but Fouts won the absentee votes. He won only 57.5% of the total votes cast, his lowest as mayor. In April 2020 Fouts directed the Warren police to not enforce the provision's of Governor Whitmer's order on Covid-19 control banning commercial lawn services. Fouts argued that many elderly residents of the city did not own lawn mowers and lack of lawn maitenance would lead to higher numbers of mosquitoes and rodents and be a health hazard.