Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied claims that he had been caught on a cellphone video smoking crack cocaine to reporters today, saying they were "absolutely not true" and "ridiculous". Reports have surfaced which claim that someone had been attempting to sell a video depicting him in the act to US and Canadian media outlets. Two reporters from the Toronto Star and a third from Gawker are among those who say they have seen the video, which was shown to them by someone involved in the Toronto drug trade.
After denying the claims to reporters who swarmed around his house this morning, Ford was forced to address the issue again this afternoon, giving a brief statement to reporters.
"Anyways, like I said this morning, these allegations are ridiculous, it's another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me," Ford said. "And that's all I've got to say for now."
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One of the Toronto Star reporters, Robyn Doolittle, wrote that the video was shown three times to her and her colleague Kevin Donovan as they sat in the back of a car driven by a tipster. Gawker editor John Cook wrote that he saw the video under similar circumstances and has spearheaded a drive among readers to raise $200,000 in order to buy the video. The Star reporters said they had also been asked for a six-figure amount for the video, an offer they turned down.
"I am confident that I saw Rob Ford smoking crack in that video," Cook told Reuters.
Ford has proven controversial since his 2010 election. The Star has published a list of some of the mayor's most "remarkable moments", including comments like "Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on bikes...my heart bleeds for them when I hear someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day" and one calling for the exile of gun criminals from the city of Toronto.
Doolittle and Donovan wrote yesterday that the video appeared to show Ford sitting in a chair inhaling from a glass crack pipe while muttering jibes at an off-camera speaker who brings up topics like the high school football team Ford coaches and the leader of rival Liberal Party.
A lawyer retained by Ford called Gawker's publication of details related to the video "false and defamatory" and said it is impossible to tell for sure from any video what a person is smoking.
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