Gawker is once again going after Rob Ford, Toronto’s conservative mayor.
Gawker editor John Cooke says he has seen the video in question during a trip to Toronto. Cooke writes the video shows Ford giggling and smoking crack cocaine out of a glass pipe. The video was shown to him by a mysterious man who didn’t give his name, and who is seeking a six-figure sum for the incriminating clip.
Cooke writes, “Rob Ford purchases his crack cocaine from a crew of Toronto drug dealers that service a veritable who’s who of A-list Torontonians.”
The reporter confirmed with the tipster the content of the glass pipe contains crack, and not weed or tobacco. It’s unclear if a second source confirmed the tipster’s allegations.
It should be noted no other evidence corroborates Cooke’s allegations.
Toronto Star reporter Robyn Doolittle echoed Gawker’s allegations by only saying she and colleague Kevin Donovan saw the video and will offer more details in tomorrow’s Toronto Star.
Myself and Kevin Donovan have viewed the video of Mayor Rob Ford that is the subject of the Gawker piece. Read the Toronto Star tomorrow
— robyndoolittle (@robyndoolittle) May 17, 2013
The Gawker post (at 203,000 pageviews at time of this article’s publication) includes a photo showing a smiling Ford along with Anthony Smith. The 21-year-old college student was killed two months ago outside a Toronto nightclub in a shooting.
Cooke adds, “The tipster has already reached out to one other news outlet, a Canadian organization that he refused to name, which offered $40,000. The owner rejected that. He thinks he can get six figures.”
Earlier this year Gawker posted a lengthy list of criticism lobbed at Ford, and in 2011 wrote about the Mayor’s office trying to hide naked portraits of Ford.
Tonight, an Indiegogo campaign launched a crowd-fund $100,000 to purchase the Ford video.
Rob Ford or his office has not yet replied to Gawker’s allegations.
