Toronto Mayor: I Don’t Smoke Crack

It’s unfortunate when the mayor of a major city has to go on record denying that he uses crack cocaine, but that’s the situation Toronto’s Rob Ford finds himself in. “I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine,” Ford said in a statement on Friday, responding to claims from the Toronto Star and Gawker that a videotape exists to prove otherwise. Gawker rejected the denial, taking issue with Ford’s use of the present tense, which the site says doesn’t necessarily disprove the claim that he used crack in recent months. Meanwhile, the Star reports that Ford fired his chief of staff for suggesting the mayor go to rehab, a charge Ford hasn’t addressed. Who knew Canadian politics could get so ugly?