Toronto mayor reportedly caught on video smoking crack

A group in the drug trade is shopping around a video showing Rod Forb inhaling from a crack pipe

Published May 17, 2013 1:26PM (EDT)

 Mayor Rob Ford (Wikimedia)
Mayor Rob Ford (Wikimedia)

A video, viewed already a number of times by journalists, is being passed around by a group of Somali men in the drug trade. It hasn't been made public yet, though, because it has a six figure price tag. Probably something to do with the fact that it reportedly captures Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack.

Ford is also known for conservative views and the occasional extremely racist remark.

Gawker's John Cook -- who went to extraordinary, border-crossing lengths to see the footage -- wrote:

Here is what the video shows: Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, is the only person visible in the frame. Prior to the trip, I spent a lot of time looking at photographs of Rob Ford. The man in the video is Rob Ford. It is well-lit, clear. Ford is seated, in a room in a house. In one hand is a a clear, glass pipe. The kind with a big globe and two glass cylinders sticking out of it. In the other hand is a lighter. A slurred voice off-camera is ranting about Canadian politics in what sounds like an attempt to goad Ford. "Pierre Trudeau was a faggot!" is the one phrase the lodges in my mind. Ford, pipe in one hand and lighter in the other, is laughing, and mildly protesting at the sacrilege. He seems to keep trying to light the pipe, but keeps stopping to laugh. He is red-faced and sweaty, heaving with each breath. Finally, he finds his moment and lights up. He inhales.

Update: The Toronto Star, whose reporters have also seen the video, say that it's Justin Trudeau—Pierre's son and the leader of the Liberal Party in Canada—and not Pierre getting called a "faggot." It's hard to keep all these Canadians apart. The Star also has Ford himself, and not the voice off-screen, making the "faggot" remark, though that's not how I remember it.

The Toronto Star reported on the (tenuous) response from a lawyer retained by Ford:

A lawyer retained by Ford, Dennis Morris, said that Thursday evening’s publication by the U.S.-based Gawker website of some details related to the video was “false and defamatory.” Morris told the Star that by viewing any video it is impossible to tell what a person is doing. “How can you indicate what the person is actually doing or smoking?” Morris said.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

MORE FROM Natasha Lennard


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Crack Drugs Gawker Rob Ford Toronto Toronto Mayor