Rob Ford crack smoking video released after charges dropped against former driver
The former mayor of Canada's largest city died in March from cancer
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Video footage that shows Rob Ford, the late former mayor of Toronto, smoking crack, has been released after a legal case involving the recording was ended.
In the video, which first came to public attention three years ago, Ford is seen smoking a pipe and swearing profusely as he talks to a friend off camera. He insults Canada’s current prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and appears to rant about minorities entering Canada. “F*** the minorities,” he says.
The video shows the one-time mayor of Canada’s largest city lighting up while talking to his friend Fabio Basso, who remains off camera. The one-time mayor, who died in March, appears to be heavily intoxicated throughout the clip.
The mayor complains that he is viewed as a right-wing “radical f***** guy” and then proceeds to smoke the crack pipe.
At one point, Mr Basso says: “Trudeau right there, I’d like to get that f***** Justin Trudeau and shove my foot as far up his ***, because I’m sure it goes real far,” he says.
At the end of the clip, Ford wonders aloud if the camera in front of him of him is on.
The Toronto Star said news of the video rocked Ford’s mayoralty in 2013, and photos showed him smoking crack, but the full clip itself was never made public. Ford claimed the clip did not even exist, saying he would not comment on a video “that I have never seen or does not exist”.
But the video was played in court last year during the trial for former Ford driver Alexander Lisi, who was charged with trying to extort a gang member for the footage. The case against Mr Lisi was dropped Thursday, ending a court-ordered ban on the video’s release.
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