Toronto mayor breaks silence.
Mayor says he was ‘judged by the media without any evidence’
TORONTO — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford broke his weeklong silence Friday afternoon to forcefully denounce reports alleging he smokes crack cocaine, telling a throng of journalists that he has been “judged by the media without any evidence.”
Red-faced and gripping a City of Toronto podium at City Hall, Ford — who has clumsily dodged the press since crack allegations surfaced in a New York gossip blog more than a week ago — began his fiveminute news conference by rejecting the heart of the story.
“I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine,” Ford declared.
“As for a video, I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist. It is most unfortunate, very unfortunate, that my colleagues and the great people of this city have been exposed to the fact that I have been judged by the media without any evidence.” He refused to take questions.
The video in question, which has not surfaced publicly, allegedly shows the mayor smoking a crack pipe in the company of Somali drug dealers. Journalists from Gawker and the Toronto Star both claim to have viewed the cellphone video.
After Gawker launched a controversial crowd-funding campaign to raise $200,000 — the alleged price placed on the video by members of Toronto’s drug underworld — donations began flooding in, with the campaign surpassing 80 per cent of its target by Friday evening. But Gawker, apparently unable to reconnect with the video’s owner, has now warned the transaction may never come to fruition.
For the past week, this spectacle has transfixed the city and made Toronto a punchline for late-night comics.
“This past week has not been an easy one,” Ford acknowledged, noting he refrained from speaking out sooner on the advice of his lawyer. “It has taken a great toll on my family and my friends and the great people of Toronto.”
Perhaps the toughest blow came Wednesday, when the mayor lost his high-school football coaching job. Citing too many “distractions,” the Toronto Catholic District School Board ousted him as head coach of the Don Bosco Eagles.
Ford also offered thanks to Mark Towhey, the former chief of staff he fired Thursday.
The mayor quickly left the room after reading his statement, ignoring reporters who asked him to clarify whether he had ever used crack-cocaine, or whether Towhey had urged him to seek help.