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How close is Gawker to publishing the Rob Ford crack video?
| May 21, 2013
Since Rob Ford joined Whitney Houston, Charlie Sheen and Tyrone Biggums in the pantheon of famous (alleged) crack users, the world has been clamouring to see the 90-second video that reportedly showcases the deed itself. However, no news agency has expressed interest in ponying up the $200,000 needed to buy the clip off the local drug-dealer-turned-videographer, which means an online crowd-sourced campaign remains the scandal sniffers’ best hope. So far, it’s looking good.
- The multiple campaigns that surfaced early on have all (save one persistent outlier) consolidated behind Gawker’s Indiegogo effort, affectionally called “Crackstarter.”
- Crackstarter has raised over $93,000 in four days, which puts it on track to reach the $200,000 goal ahead of the 10-day deadline Gawker has set. (If they fall short of the goal, all funds will be returned to the donors. If the campaign reaches $200,000 but the dealer decides not to sell to Gawker, the money will go a Canadian non-profit for addictions and counselling.)
- Gawker is fanning interest by offering perks to donors: $75 will get you a public “thank you” tweet from the Gawker account; $1,000 buys a dinner out with the Gawker staff; and the first person to donate $10,000 will get to keep the iPhone used to record the footage.
Though it’s possible the buzz behind Crackstarter could fizzle out, the fund was still growing at a furious rate today (over $3,000 in four hours) and the story has been picked up around the world. We’re cautiously optimistic that Gawker will get the video, so long as they don’t follow the Walter Sobchak guide to hand-offs.
