Rob Ford Crack Scandal

Background

On May 16th, 2013, Canadian newspaper The Star^[1] published an article about a cellphone video allegedly showing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking out of a glass crack cocaine pipe. The video, which was being shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade, was said to have been filmed in late 2012 in a well-lit room in a house in the Kingsville Village area of Toronto. Ford was also seen recorded calling himself “fucking right-wing” and calling Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau a “fag.” The same day, Gawker published an article^[2] by staff writer John Cook, noting he had also seen the tape along with a photo (shown below) of Ford posing with three men, one of whom was shot and killed outside of a Toronto nightclub in March.^[3]

Cook revealed that the owner of the video was asking six figures for the footage. After contacting an acquaintance at CNN to see if they could help with payment, a CNN reporter in Canada called a source who had previously worked for Ford.

Notable Developments

On Twitter

Many Canadians took to Twitter to comment on the story using the hashtag #TOpoli.^[13], a number of which were archived on Storify^[14] by The Star staff. According to Topsy Analytics^[15], #TOpoli was mentioned more than 10,800 times that day, while “Rob Ford” was tweeted over 116,000 times (shown below).

Media Coverage

In the coming days, a multitude of news outlets and internet culture blogs picked up on the story including The Chicago Sun-Times^[5], The Huffington Post Canada^[6], MetaFIlter^[7], BoingBoing^[8], the National Post^[9], the New York Daily News^[10] and Democratic Underground.^[11] The incident also became fodder for a segment on The Daily Show.

Ford Avoids Questions

On May 17th, Mayor Ford was encountered by the press at least three times asking for a statement on the story. He called the allegations “ridiculous” and claimed that the Toronto Star was going after him in an official statement at city hall^[4] (shown below). His brother, Toronto city councillor Doug Ford,^[24] released a statement claiming the allegations were driven by “questionable reporting.”

Gawker’s “Crackstarter”

Also on May 17th, Gawker launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign^[19] intending to raise $200,000 USD to buy the Ford video. Within two days, they raised $63,500 towards their goal^[20], breaking $145,000 by May 23rd. The same day, Gawker revealed^[21] they had not been in contact with the owners of the video since May 19th, that no money would be taken from pledgers unless they reached the full $200,000 goal and that they would donate the full amount to a Canadian nonprofit working against substance abuse if they were unable to obtain the video.

Chief of Staff Fired

On May 23rd, 2013, Ford’s Chief of Staff, Mark Towhey, was escorted out of city hall, telling reporters “I am no longer the chief of staff. I did not resign.”^[22] Though Towey claimed his departure was not related to the scandal, a source later told the CBC^[23] that he was let go for organizing an impromptu intervention for Ford with his top advisors and telling the mayor to get help. Towey claimed the mayor laughed at thoughts of going to rehab. The day he was fired, Towhey gained more than 500 new followers on Twitter (shown below), but he has not addressed the matter there as of May 24th.

Well then, to the 500+ new followers I seem to have attracted today… Hello there.What’s up? Oh, and… eat your heart out <a href="https://twitter.com/britt_a">britt_a</a> :)</p>— towhey (towhey) May 24, 2013

Ford’s Press Conference

In the first few days following the scandal, Ford did not initially address whether or not the video was real. On May 24th, 2013, he held a press conference^[17] where said he cannot comment on a video that he had “not seen or does not exist.”^[18] He also reinforced that he does not use crack cocaine and is not addicted to it. He asserted that he had been judged by the media without any evidence. He also addressed the fact that he was let go as head coach of a Catholic high school’s football team, but a spokesperson for the Toronto Catholic District School Board claims this decision had nothing to do with the scandal.^[25]