06.05.2013 06:50 AM

The Rob Ford crack video isn’t “gone”! (updated)

…here’s a video about Rob Ford – and, er, crack cocaine – right here!

We’re living in a “world-class city,”
but lately it seems kind of icky
Some days it’s downright silly
Being governed by hillbillies!

We’ve got a mayor on crack?
We wanna give him the sack
He makes us all wanna yak
We’ve got a mayor on crack?

This mayor steals taxpayer bucks
That mayor likes to throw muck
We’ve got the worst situation:
We’re governed by the Ford Nation!

Representatives of big record companies, take note: Canada’s best-loved geriatric punk trio, SFH, are giving the proceeds from their newest tune and video, ‘Mayor On Crack?’ to to a Canadian addiction-counselling facility. Download it now, download it often, right here! We’re on iTunes, even!

(Oh, and if you want to offer us a big contract so we can quit our day jobs, which we do, please contact our manager, David MacMillan, at Deadbolt Music.)

See? Crack video, not gone!

UPDATE: the real video, meanwhile – the one over which Rob Ford could sue for big bucks, but hasn’t – is still out there, Gawker’s grumblings notwithstanding.

51 Comments

  1. Brian says:

    Not to mention that the source of that surplus – the land transfer tax – was instituted by the Miller administration.

  2. rabbit says:

    If the video turned out to be an obvious fake, these upstanding Somalian citizens could face both civil suits and perhaps even criminal charges.

    I wonder if advice from a lawyer didn’t persuade them to make the video go away.

    • Reality.Bites says:

      An obvious fake that somehow fooled two Star reporters who have to look at Ford’s ugly mug live and in person every workday?

  3. wsam says:

    Impossible to fake that kind of video. Rob Ford smokes crack

    • rabbit says:

      That’s a joke, right? Even amateurs can do a credible job of faking a video of almost anything.

      And the two Star reporters say they saw the video on a cell phone – that is, a tiny screen with a resolution.of a few hundred pixels in each direction. Furthermore, they were likely eager to believe the video, dulling their critical judgment.

      I don’t know if the video was faked, but the possibility is perfectly real.

      • patrick says:

        No they can’t. A fraud on that scale is difficult, if not impossible, with the best in Hollywood with the best equipment. In a basement of conspirators, with photoshop, aftereffects, and a lap top, impossible.

        • rabbit says:

          How do you know what scale this is on? You haven’t seen the video. The lighting could have been bad, the filming out of focus, or “Rob Ford” could have been filmed at a distance, making it small or grainy.

          The only thing the video had to achieve was to excite a couple of credulous Toronto Star reporters when they viewed it on a cell phone. That’s not exactly “Toy Story 2”.

          • wsam says:

            I am accepting the word of industry professionals to whom I have spoken. Additionally, in the last few weeks, all of Canada’s major newspapers have published articles written by special effects people making the case that faking a video like the reporters saw would be impossible.

            The real question is why certain types of people insist on trying to create wiggle room for George W Ford. What is in it for you? Is this some sort of weird ritual humiliation that Conservatives put new recruits through online before telling them the secret hand-shake?

            “Okay. You want in the club. Go spend the next week defending Rob Ford. No matter what he does. Argue he is right and his opponents wrong.”

          • The Star reported they where surprised at how bright and clear the video was.

            Besides, if someone went through all the trouble of making a fake video to bring down a right-wing politician, why would they choose one who as powerless and ineffectual as Rob Ford.

          • patrick says:

            Right. If it’s so easy make one. As I’ve asked all the technical geniuses at Crack Nation make a video of Adam Vaughan smoking crack that would fool 3 people who work in the media business. So far no takers.

      • wsam says:

        No it is not. The possibility is not real. If you believe it is possible to fake the video then you believe something which is clearly wrong. I feel sorry for you.

        It is impossible to fake the kind of video the reporters saw.

        Rob Ford has proven himself to be a liar again and again. Why give him the benefit of the doubt?

        I am beginning to feel this whole Rob Ford thing is like Toronto’s version of George W Bush invading Iraq. Right now we are still arguing whether the invasion was a brilliant success and mission truly was accomplished, or if there still remains some mopping up to do. Soon we will move on to arguing whether the Shias and Sunnis are really tearing the country apart in a bloody civil war versus the violence is not really that bad, or not happening, or loudly shouting ‘mission accomplished’. Meanwhile the truth is obvious for anyone not psychologically vested in the success of Rob W Ford.

        • rabbit says:

          “No it is not. The possibility is not real. If you believe it is possible to fake the video then you believe something which is clearly wrong. I feel sorry for you.”

          This thread is getting bizarre. To claim the video could not be fake without having even viewed it is to be utterly divorced from reality.

          “Why give him the benefit of the doubt?”

          Without decent evidence, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. Given the facts of this affair, the only sensible conclusion is to say that the allegations are tenuous and unsupported. Should a credible video appear, that assessment would change.

          “Meanwhile the truth is obvious for anyone not psychologically vested in the success of Rob W Ford.”

          Rather the opposite, I think. It would be perverse to condemn Ford — or anyone — based on what we now know.

          • wsam says:

            Even Deputy Mayor Holo-Deck has said he believes the video exists; he just cannot admit publicly what everyone knows is true. Which is:

            THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES AND HE WAS CAPTURED ON VIDEO SMOKING CRACK!!!!!!

          • Kaspar Juul says:

            “This thread is getting bizarre. To claim the video could be faked without having even viewed it is to be utterly divorced from reality.”

        • West Guy says:

          Impossible to fake a video? Then I guess that eagle really did almost snatch that toddler from that park. I remember seeing the video on youtube. I remember something about how it was faked by the guys claiming to have faked it but I guess since it’s impossible to fake a video, that must have been a lie.

          In the absence of a credible evaluation of the video by experts, the people who are “trying to create wiggle room” for Ford are just as guilty as the people who are damning him without expert analysis of the video. I’m not defending Ford I’m just saying so far, the factual information from credible, named sources is rather thin.

          • patrick says:

            Completely different level of difficulty. No face. No dialogue. Easy composition of a sweeping eagle and some clothes. The focus is far away and the images blurry. There is little that is complicated to put this together but it still took a long time to do.
            Ford is in a video. Parked in a living room. Struggling to smoke crack. He is talking. He is moving. He is close enough to see that someone has a camera.
            It isn’t long distance, because they are all in an apartment. It’s an IPHONE not a super 8 video. The picture is so much better and much harder to fake. Putting this together so that multiple people would be fooled is way more than fuzzy cuts and bad lighting.
            Comparing the two videos means you know nothing about film production.

          • West Guy says:

            Not much about film production but a ton about static image manipulation and since video is just a series of static images I do know what technology is capable of.
            As my username indicates, I have no dog in this fight. Ford’s guilt or innocence has no bearing on me. I would just like to see some sort of verified evidence or named sources first

    • West Guy says:

      Not impossible at all. Quite possible.
      Sure, prosumer-level technology to digitally create lifelike people isn’t here, yet, but just because you can’t do it one way doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways. All you’d really need is:
      -Ford doing all the same motions (with or without pipe) in another video, isolate the subject and drop it into the new video. Audio could be isolated form another source video and overlaid into the new video.
      -A Ford-like actor in the video and face-mapping software that uses a database of Ford’s face from different angles taken from any number of availble photos and videos. Audio could be isolated from another video source and overlaid into the new video.
      The fact it’s a cell phone means that you wouldn’t be dealing with sharp-HD resolution. Low light and low resolution only makes it easier to fake. You’d probably have to “dumb-down” the resolution to make it work, again, something very easy to do.

      • wsam says:

        No.

        It’s getting tiresome.

        THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES AND HE IS SMOKING CRACK!!!!!!

        • rabbit says:

          Capitalizing everything and adding six exclamation marks doesn’t make things true, and tends to diminish one’s credibility.

          • wsam says:

            I am beginning to feel this whole Rob Ford thing is like Toronto’s version of George W Bush invading Iraq. Right now we are still arguing whether the invasion was a brilliant success and mission truly was accomplished, or if there still remains some mopping up to do. Soon we will move on to arguing whether the Shias and Sunnis are really tearing the country apart in a bloody civil war versus the violence is not really that bad, or not happening, or loudly shouting ‘mission accomplished’. Meanwhile the truth is obvious for anyone not psychologically vested in the success of Rob W Ford.

      • Reality.Bites says:

        My cell phone records 1080p video. Can’t you afford a decent phone on what Ford pays you?

  4. Ottawa Civil Servant says:

    REAL Crime:

    “This failure to comply with the records retention requirements, coupled with a culture of avoiding the creation of written and electronic records, assists in explaining the apparent paucity of documents relating to the gas plant closures produced by the offices of the former minister of energy and the former premier,” said Cavoukian.

    However, there are no real penalties for the former Liberal staffers.

  5. wsam says:

    Rob Ford is on a mission to prove to the world that fat people are not necessarily jolly.

    He is doing a good job.

    • Ottawa Civil Servant says:

      This is the seething hatred I so often see on the leftish web sites. Absolutes and personal attacks beyond anything the Tories ever dreamt up. The Heather Mallicks of the world, so convinced of their infallibility, and so convinced that anyone who wants to modify their standard-berarer’s policies must be evil, that any change is, ipso facto, more proof of their inherent evil.
      The census survived, and so has Canada; profligate spending kills as assuredly as a bullet; the death of the long gun registry has led to …nothing of note; and a mayor of a major Canadian city using crack has led to …jokes on late-night TV.
      Seriously, “WSAM” calm down. Maybe you should get all excited about all the Liberal-connected mayors/councillors amd MNLs in Québec who are actually PROVEN to be connected to crime.

      • deb s says:

        I dont think there is a monopoly on that hatred and adhominem attacks witih only the left being guilty. I have seen some pretty nasty rightwing blogs and just read the comments section of the NP, sunnews and other right slanted media, actually read the CBC comment boards…its all over the place. I also believe its been stated in the media that harper has quite alot of paid commentators to promote the party line and some of them can get a bit nasty…but I guess thats their job:P
        I think you might be missing some of the humour of WSAM…I take him as posting with a dash of wit. I dont take his comments as angry or filled with hatred…but I do think he is poking alot of fun at the situation while logically bursting alot of conservative talking pts. Its a stretch to label it seething hatred, now thats hyperbole:)

      • wsam says:

        You calm down Ottawa BureauBot.

        Liberals are upset about bad governance. Like Canada’s abysmal record on climate change.

        The right wing is so calm. Hmmm … Mark Styen?

        Who wet their pants after Justin Trudeau did an ad wearing cargo shorts?

  6. JMP says:

    This ridiculousness reminds me of the Lance Armstrong doping allegations. For years, anyone who was a cycling fan and had two eyes and a brain (there aren’t very many of those types of cycling fans, admittedly – well, plenty with two eyes, but a brain, not so much) could see that the useless, lying SOB was doped to the gills for his 7 Tour de France wins.

    But anyone who dared to bring up the obvious was vilified for years as being a jealous, bitter, cancer-loving Lance-hater. “Where is the proof? There’s no proof! Except for all of his former teammates who SAW HIM DOPE, but they aren’t credible! Eyewitness testimony doesn’t count for anything! It’s all hearsay! Bitter bitter bitter! Jealous jealous jealous! Haters of excellence!!! Lovers of cancer!!!”

    Does this type of hysterical kneejerk defense of a scummy thug sound familiar at all?

    And oh yeah… How did that whole Lance Armstrong thing turn out in the end, again? Ooops! Guess he was a doper all along. Funny that.

    If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it probably smokes crack like a duck too.

    • deb s says:

      lol, so true, and ducks do walk with a telltale crack wobble:)

    • Luigi says:

      Yes he was a doper, but so were all of his competitors. He becomes the fall guy because he is an American victor in France. The French detest America because they saved them from Nazi Germany.

  7. billg says:

    “the one over which Rob Ford could sue for big bucks but hasnt…”
    Ya..thats the kicker for me.
    Why did OJ run and tell his best friend he was sorry….
    Why has Ford lost 5 staffers and not hired a pitbull for a lawyer.
    In my mind the best part of Toronto is what I can see in my rear view mirror heading east just past Oshawa, so, I dont care who your mayor is, but, if this isnt true shouldnt there be a lawsuit by now and at least one press conference? Why would the Star risk a 100 million dollar law suit? Just stuff I think about.

  8. !o! says:

    Damn catchy punk tunes can’t get it out o’ me ‘ead

    We’ve got a mayor on crack?
    We’ve got a mayor on crack?

  9. tom armstrong says:

    time to get of the two fat Fords who are expensive and useless bums

  10. G Betts says:

    Is this worth noting?? Ford video surfacing??

    http://imgur.com/gGfAcSI

  11. Steve T says:

    Sorry, but I’m pretty sure there is no video. Not that Rob Ford is an angel, or that he might not have done some unsavory things, or that he isn’t a crappy mayor for other reasons, but this video thing is probably going to be remembered as one of the bigger hoaxes in Canada.

  12. milkbox says:

    flip to page 30-31 on junes macleans and you can easily see how much larger ford is compared to that pinner.

    this opinion comes from a bc pot smoker, who knows nothing of poli-ticks, i just wanted to see a guy smoke some rock for kicks,i also presume everyone in politicks in toronto are jacked on endorphines from raping the people

  13. Luigi says:

    The songer and his rant are not only factually incorrect, but typical left-wing lynching attempts at Rob Ford. This man created a SURPLUS in the budget. There was no tape, but as far as I’m concerned, a faked video that no longer exists.

    “You can’t have something for nothing.
    You can’t have freedom for free.”
    ~ Rush.

    So left-wing leeches, stick that up your crack pipe and smoke it!

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