Reaction Round-up: 16 essential quotes about Rob Ford’s rant in Jamaican patois

Reaction Round-up: 16 essential quotes about Rob Ford’s rant in Jamaican patois

Tuesday’s video of Rob Ford, inebriated at Steak Queen and rambling incoherently in Jamaican patois, has caused renewed outrage among the city’s pundits and politicians. (Also, it hasn’t gone down very well with Jamaicans.) Here, a roundup of 16 unmissable reactions to the mayor’s latest debacle.

“I was with some friends and what I do in my personal life and [with] my personal friends, that’s up to me. This really has nothing to do with, has nothing to do with [reporters]. It’s my own time. It’s my own time.”
Rob Ford, mayor of Toronto


“I’ll repeat what [Rob Ford] said 10 million times. [Since] the beginning of November, he hasn’t taken a drink. It’s simple.”
—Councillor Doug Ford, brother and campaign manager of mayor Rob Ford


“It’s a sideshow. It is no longer the main show.”
Norm Kelly, deputy mayor


“There’s a profound disappointment and sadness that it looks like he’s fallen off the wagon…When someone fails in that way, it’s a disapointment for all of us.”
Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong


“I find his portrayal and his conduct as mayor of this city offensive. The element of understanding that the city of Toronto has a motto which is ‘Diversity Our Strength.’ And to be mocking and interpreting—his interpretation of, being, I suppose, being Jamaican, is offensive.”
Councillor Michael Thompson 


“We’ve seen this go on and on and on. We want to change the channel. We’ve seen him make promises, we’ve seen him break promises. This is not behaviour appropriate to the chief magistrate of the city.”
Councillor Joe Mihevc


“He was just horsing around with his friends…People overreact to everything he does. The entire world laughed at Jesus too…I want Rob to know that come October 27, he’s the boss and he will win.”
Penny Morrison, staunch Rob Ford supporter who spoke to reporters at Rexdale’s Steak Queen on Tuesday


“@TOMayorFord should get help. I said this before and saying this again now.”
John Tory, Newstalk 1010 host and potential mayoral candidate, via Twitter


“[Ford] needs to be put at the back of the shelf and brought out only for family events. Like a bad wine.”
Dave Glover, host of Investortoday.ca, via Twitter 


“If [Rob Ford] won’t resign and get help, then he will be demonstrating to all why he does not deserve another term as Toronto’s mayor. He won’t deserve it, because he will be putting his own ego and interests ahead of the city he serves. And Toronto deserves better than that.”
Toronto Sun editorial


“In some perverse way, you have to give the man credit: Just when you think he can sink no lower, he finds new ways of humiliating himself and cheapening his office. His uncut videos have become a staple of late-night U.S. television. He’s become this country’s most successful comedy export. But why is he still the Mayor?”
Globe and Mail editorial


“Ford wants to be judged not as a mayor but as a common resident with a right to privacy whose antics shouldn’t be considered news. If this is the way he wants it, Ford should step down now and become an ordinary citizen. Failing that, voters should make him one on Election Day.”
Toronto Star editorial


“Just when you thought he couldn’t possibly pull another nugget out of his bag of crazy, he gets drunk and speaks Jamaican at a Steak Queen. When you’re the best, that’s what you do…Thank you, Canada! This almost makes up for Justin Bieber.”
Jimmy Kimmel, host of late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!


“Obviously [Ford]’s got Jamaican friends and he’s been around Jamaicans quite a bit, because that’s exactly how Jamaicans on the street would describe the situation…If you met someone on the street you didn’t know and you said, ‘you’re a bumbaclot,’ that could be a very trying situation for you.”
Bob Arthurs, president of the Jamaican Canadian Association Alberta 


“The thud of our mayor falling off the wagon … it’s a sad sound, or ought to be, regardless of your politics…When he departs as mayor, he has a promising career doing Jamaican impressions. If there’s ever a sequel to Cool Runnings, the John Candy role is a perfect fit.”
Mike Strobel, Toronto Sun columnist


“The mayor is a despicable, indecent human being. He’s the kind of person, who, when you see him on the street you walk to the other side…His comments are highly offensive. Why are his words not bleeped? They are offensive to women. Such words are not allowed in my house. And yet I turn on the news and it’s in my face…There are half a million Jamaicans here. This is just disgusting.”
Donette Chin-Loy, a high-profile member of the Jamaican-Canadian community


Images: Chin-Loy: Ryerson; Strobel: Toronto Sun; Arthurs: calgaryjournal.ca; Morrison: CityTV/screenshot; Thompson: DavenportDemocracy; Glover: Twitter; Rob Ford, Kelly, Minian-Wong: Christopher Drost; Doug Ford: HiMY SYeD;  Mihevc: city of Toronto; Tory: Ontario Chamber of Commerce; Kimmel: M. Clamer)