Mayor Rob Ford admits to smoking crack: “Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine”
Video courtesy of Global News
It’s official. Mayor Rob Ford has admitted to smoking crack “maybe a year ago”—that is, while he was serving Toronto as mayor.
“I wasn’t lying,” the mayor said to reporters at a brief scrum in front of his city hall office. “You [the media] didn’t ask the correct questions.” (For comparison, we invite you to judge for yourselves. Here is the video of his Fordship denying using crack cocaine back on May 24th.)
Ford made today’s stunning admission after months of avoiding questions about his drug use, erratic behaviour and the infamous video that allegedly shows him not just smoking crack, but also making homophobic and racial slurs. “I can’t comment on a video that I haven’t seen,” Ford told reporters again today.
“Am I an addict? No!” added mayor Ford. “Have I tried [crack]? Probably in one of my drunken stupors…No I’m not an addict and no, I do not do drugs. I made mistakes in the past and all I can do is apologize, but it is what it is and I can’t change the past.”
The mayor’s appearance lasted fewer than five minutes, before he disappeared back into his office. According to CP24, the last question to the mayor before he left was, “Are you drunk right now?”
Nearly an hour after the scrum, a story appeared on the Toronto Sun‘s website, reporting that the mayor is not willing to not step down.
“I feel like I got 1,000 pounds off my back,” Ford told the Sun‘s Joe Warmington. “I felt I had to say it. It is what is. I feel two inches high right now but I needed to deal with it. I am not going to quit or take a leave. I am not an addict or an alcoholic. I have work to do and I am moving on. The way I see it now, this is over.”
Ford also told the Sun that he knows what’s on the video Toronto Police recovered early last week: “I think I know what’s on the video and I know it’s not pretty…Did I smoke something? Probably. It’s ugly. ”
“I am not a crackhead or junkie,” the mayor threw in.
According to sources in the scrum, many of the mayor’s own staffers did not even know he was about to make this statement. Deputy mayor Norm Kelly arrived at city hall at 12:45 p.m. with Ford’s chief of staff. Both passed by journalists telling them they had no comment. Councillor Doug Ford, typically the mayor’s defender and supporter in these matters, was a few blocks away at Ryerson University, ironically addressing a journalism class. Earlier in the day, councillor Ford accused police chief Bill Blair of being “judge, jury and executioner” because the chief had indicated that he was “disappointed” in the mayor after seeing the much-ballyhooed video of Rob Ford supposedly smoking crack. Doug Ford also called for Blair to step down.
Reactions from other councillors have started piling up, including this take from Jaye Robinson: “I think it’s affecting [Rob Ford’s] judgment. This is a sad day for the city of Toronto.” Councillor John Filion has said, “I have empathy for the mayor as a human being … On a personal level I feel bad for the mayor.”
Councillor Filion filed a motion earlier in the day that seeks to strip the mayor of his ability to hire or fire the deputy mayor, or any of the standing committee chairs. A second motion was also filed at city hall today—this one from councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong—that calls on the mayor to apologize, co-operate with police in their ongoing investigation and to take a temporary leave of absence.
“I think it’s time for him to take a break,” Minnan-Wong told reporters after hearing the mayor’s stunning confession.
Looks like all Torontonians will remember, remember, the fifth of November. Let’s just hope today does not end with city hall in cinders.
More to come, obviously.
Epic Facepalm. What a douche.
Hmmm sounds familiar…..”I did not have sex with that woman…”
Ìt`s your fault for not asking the right questions`. Um, yeah, that`s totally where the fault lies here. On the upside, that is an admission of an illegal act, so he should be gone.
Yeah… WE didn’t ask the right questions. Suuuuuure.
Ill vote for him.
Stupid is as stupid does
Is it a coincidence that “about a year ago”, Ford was in the hospital for 2 days “recovering from a throat irritation that aggravated his asthma and left him “gasping for air.””? From Aug 2012: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/…/article4468845/
seriously,we worry about things like this,when yet we got kids getting hurt and abused daily,women raped and the one we know is murdered.It is mentioned on the news once and forgotten,and then we have a man that smoked some drugs,and it hits daily news.Seriously i just don’t get,i am not defending this man for what he did,but are we all angels?
Whether or not WE are angels is irrelevant. He is the leader, the Chief Magistrate of Canada’s largest city. He should be held to a higher standard – but he has failed even if he wasn’t. Yes, the other issues exist and are absolutely deplorable – but they are not the topic of this article in particular, or of this discussion.
I think everyone needs to seriously relax about Rob Ford. It’s not like he murdered someone, he tried an illegal drug. It’s a victimless crime people.
You’re right, no one is perfect and no one is an angel. But there is a difference between a random person choosing to do drugs and the mayor of Canada’s largest city choosing to do drugs. As citizens of Toronto, we have placed our trust in someone who should be following a strict moral and ethical code. Yet, by his own admission he has used an illegal substance, has been publicly drunk multiple times, and has gotten so drunk that he’s blacked out (again, by his own admission). Furthermore, he has repeatedly associated with known criminals, as a mayor this is just something he shouldn’t be doing. And to top it off, he’s lied to the people who have placed their trust in him. Saying the media didn’t phrase the question properly is just smoke and mirrors, he knew what he was doing when he denied smoking crack.
So all of that said, yes this is something to worry about. I don’t think anyone is under the impression that this issue should take precedence over someone getting killed, abused, or raped. But this is a huge issue that affects everyone and we should all be informed of how this story develops. If a story regarding murder, rape or abuse comes up, there is only so much the media can report on regarding the issue before they need to move on. Rob Ford has been a powder keg of news for the past week, can’t blame the media for paying this much attention.
No, he’s the mayor who tried an illegal drug and lied about it to the people that elected him.
You’re everything that’s wrong with our world.
Come on, “didn’t ask the right questions”? Are you kidding me?!?!
When they asked him if he smokes crack, it never crossed his mind that the one time a year ago, which was videotaped, didn’t count as smoking crack? Does he really expect people to take that seriously?
no we’re not all angels, but very few of us also ran for Mayor. Just because other bad things happen in the world doesn’t make him any less of a goon for smoking crack after we did him the honour of electing him to public office… it’s forgivable in a regular citizen, but I hold people in elected office to a higher standard. Otherwise the crackhead on the corner could get in. Oh, wait………
…and he associates with criminals… he’s lost all credibility… just to add in… he seems to drink too much and doesn’t know his limits… what an image… :s
What do we have to do to get rid of this guy?
It wouldn’t be a problem if he wasn’t the leader of one of most reputable cities in the world.
You know…. my 15 year old daughter who didn’t smoke pot and experimented with 1 drink with the wrong crowd is now having to learn the very hard lesson of facing the consequences of bad choices. Did she ask for any of the subsequent events that night to happen? No. Is she to blame for them? Not really. But .. she -did- make the choice to go there that night and regardless of who is to ‘blame’, unfortunately -she- is now stuck with the consequences of possibly not only her choice, but also the choices of one of the people who was there that night.
No, you can not change the past. But it seems to me that it is highly suspect for a person in of position to say “they can not change the past” and use that as a reason to escape all of the consequences for a very bad choice that they made. Anyone else who had made that choice would face severe consequences; possible job loss, financial loss, forced rehab and all sorts of other things and yet this man seems to think he can just slide on by and say ‘oops, it’s over, all done with now, let’s move on’. I think he should be facing the same consequences as any other regular person who made that very same choice.
Bull. Drug use is definitely not a ‘victimless crime’.
A very high percentage of crimes happen when folks are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This man, who is supposed to be of sound mind and making decisions that affect so many, has admitted to not only being under the influence of alcohol for a good amount of time, but also under the influence of a pretty bad street drug. We try to teach our children that they become like who they hang out and we dissuade them from hanging out with drug users or alcoholics and this man who is supposed to be representing and making good choices for the city is shown hanging out and partying and using drugs with drug users and criminals. It isn’t rocket science.
a whole lot of people are in jail for less, or at least lost jobs with much less responsibility for much much less. drug testing in the mayors office now should be a requirement. this precident will be nice the next time some kid gets caught smoking…I was practicing to be mayor, or liberal leader, etc. they didnt arrest them, why?
…
And when the whole damn city knows your name
And you know everyone figured out your game
You’re exposed
The darkness changed to light
When you’ve got nothing left to hide
The beast waits in the shadows alone
Why stay here when you’re not coming home
Tounge in cheek, you’ve perfected your art
I’ve become the animal waiting in the dark
Words dance, a jester for her king
You say love but I don’t feel a thing
Space grows as far as I can see
I’m the animal, you’re the enemy
Really people…Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, not only admits to smoking marijuana (an illegal act) but after becoming a Member of Parliament, and the media fawns over him…http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/22/justin-trudeau-marijuana-mp_n_3792208.html… Ford admits smoking a different illegal substance and you’d swear he had been out torturing cats and dogs…Anyone who wants Ford gone should be asking the same for Trudeau, in the same sentence.
Also, there’s a lot of people not so sure about that “he didn’t murder someone” bit. Three people associated with him are now dead or missing. All 3 had some connection to that tape. And even if he is innocent of those, here’s a list of 113 other problems this neanderthal created over his mayoral term: http://jeromiewilliams.com/2013/11/03/updated-list-113-things-toronto-mayor-rob-ford-has-done-besides-smoking-crack-in-a-video/
Okay. I want Ford and Trudeau gone. Happy?
Giving someone involved in criminal activity a “pass” and saying, “It’s okay, let’s just move on,” is not exactly sending the right message either.
i think the media is missing that murder did happen….person in the person maybe in the possession of the video have the police determined that FORD wasn’t involved….??
Almost…now find about 350,000 Toronto voters who agree with you….
Question: Would you defend him if he did murder someone?
The city needs to pass a bylaw that allows the firing of any elected city official who is caught or admits doing something illegal.
Like every weasel politician, he is using semantics to say he didn’t lie. The “correct” question should have been “Have you ever smoked crack?” which they did ask him, but he ignored that question. Instead he said no to “Do you smoke crack?” which at the time was technically true since he was not smoking crack at the time.
Hanging out with drug dealers is definitely worse than smoking crack (and I am sure he has done it more than once, he just got caught the once).