Michael Savage’s mean and uninformed comments on autism stirred controversy among parents with autistic children, politicians and journalists interested in the issue. They reacted at his remarks and gathered in front of a San Francisco radio station, urging the radio host to step down and calling his discourse “hate speech.”

As part of his July 16 nationally-syndicated talk-show, “The Savage Nation,” which airs through the United States on Talk Radio Network, Michael Savage, on his real name Michael Alan Weiner, expressed his opinion about autism, saying the disease is the result of incompetent or absent parents and it is being over-diagnosed.

“I’ll tell you what autism is,” the talk show host Savage told his audience on July 16. “In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is.” “Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot,” Savage also said.

In a statement, the company said it would not fire or suspend Savage. Savage has not apologized, claiming his words were taken out of context. Savage’s syndicator, Talk Radio Network said Mr. Savage “did not mean any disrespect to autistic children or their families,” but he was “reiterating his longstanding concerns on public health issues.”

Savage is known as a critic of illegal immigration, a supporter of the English-only movement. He thinks that liberalism and gay marriages are degrading American culture.

According to medical experts, autism is actually under-diagnosed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with “autism spectrum disorders.”