BOSTON (AP) – Two popular sports radio talk show hosts returned to the air after a two-week suspension Tuesday and apologized for comparing students at a school busing program for inner-city children to an escaped zoo gorilla, but denied that racism motivated their comments.

“Do you honestly think if I made a racist connection in my mind about an escaped zoo animal and a school program that I would be stupid enough to say it, and commit professional suicide?” said John Dennis, co-host of the Dennis & Callahan show on WEEI-AM. The controversy began after an on-air exchange between Dennis and co-host Gerry Callahan on Sept. 29, a day after the gorilla, Little Joe, escaped from Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo and injured a toddler and a teenager. After Callahan observed the gorilla was captured near a bus stop, Dennis said, “Yeah, yeah. He was a Metco gorilla.”

“Heading out to Lexington,” Callahan added.

“Yeah, exactly,” Dennis replied. Metco is a voluntary program that buses inner-city children to suburban schools.

On Tuesday, Dennis apologized, saying that was sorry in particular if he hurt any child’s feelings. He said the racist connotations between a gorilla and minority children escaped him when he made his comment.

“Had it been a tiger, I certainly would have said a Metco tiger was waiting at that bus stop,” he said. “I never made a racist connection in my mind, which certainly makes me careless, inconsiderate and clearly out of touch, all of which I plead guilty to on every single count. But it does not make me a racist. That’s not who I am, it is not what’s in my heart.

Callahan apologized and said it was time to move on.

A coalition of 18 community organizations, led by the Anti-Defamation League and Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, held a news conference at WEEI headquarters on Tuesday to discuss a proposal it submitted to the station to prevent a repeat of similar behavior.

The proposal calls for the station to adopt guidelines to prevent similar incidents and to provide diversity training to employees.

“This is an opportunity for WEEI to address the concerns and wounds of a wide group of people,” said Darnell Williams, president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts.

Members of state Attorney General Thomas Reilly’s civil rights division met Monday with the station’s management, Entercom Communications, and sought assurances that similar conduct won’t happen again, Reilly spokesman Corey Welford said Tuesday.

AP-ES-10-21-03 1952EDT