Hours after aggressively dismissing questions about Mayor Rob Ford’s conduct at the Taste of the Danforth festival, Councillor Doug Ford changed his tune in a Tuesday radio interview, saying his brother had “made a mistake.”

“He had a couple drinks. He shouldn’t have. It’s very simple,” Doug Ford told Newstalk 1010 host John Tory.

Doug Ford added: “Was it right? No. Does Rob know it wasn’t right? He understands that.”

Rob Ford has refused to make himself available to the media to discuss the Friday incident. His press secretary did not respond to a request for comment after Doug Ford’s interview with Tory.

On his Sunday radio show, Rob Ford said he apologized if he had offended anyone with his behaviour. But he quickly added, “I don’t believe I did offend anyone, and if I did, you know what, I had a good time and let my hair down a bit.”

In Doug Ford’s first comments on Tuesday, to reporters waiting for a chance to speak to the mayor himself, he said “it’s not OK” for the mayor to appear impaired at a public event.

But he attacked councillors who criticized the mayor over the incident. He also criticized the Star and touted the Ford administration’s fiscal record, saying reporters are covering the story at length because it is a “slow news week.”

Asked where the mayor drank the alcohol, Doug Ford said: “Who gives a hoot? That’s what I’m hearing on the street.”

Ford said: “He had a couple of pops, big deal, no one got hurt, everyone had a good time.”

“Is Rob perfect? No, he’s not perfect, but is he one of the best mayors we’ve ever had looking after finances of this city and running this city, putting money back into infrastructure? Absolutely he is, bar none,” he said.

Rob Ford was spotted by Greenwood Ave. residents around 9:20 p.m. Friday night, standing alone next to his parked Cadillac Escalade, a few blocks south of Danforth Ave.

In videos shot by a resident as the mayor and a gathering crowd walk north toward the Danforth, Ford hoarsely says he wants to “go up to the party,” and repeatedly tells people around him: “I’m not driving.”

Sources have told the Star that Ford did not show up at a scheduled meeting with staff at the festival and they had to scramble by subway to meet him as residents tweeted that he appeared intoxicated.

People who saw the mayor during his official visit described him as slurring and unsteady on his feet. Some, however, said they didn’t care.

On his radio show, the mayor acknowledged consuming “a couple of beers” and said he “let my hair down,” but firmly rejected the suggestion he acted inappropriately.

Earlier, council centrist James Pasternak (Ward 10, York Centre) said he watched the videos but could not say if the mayor appeared intoxicated.

But he added that politicians should not drink until their official duties are done for the day. “In general, public officials should not be on duty conducting the affairs of the city while intoxicated,” he said. “Clearly, we need clear heads, we need to be very focused on the issues of the day, we need to be listening carefully to constituents that come up to us and speak to us.”

The Friday incident ended a three-month period, after his mayoralty was rocked by reports of a cellphone video that appears to show him smoking crack, in which Ford seemed focused and able to avoid controversy.

Mayor Ford has said he does not smoke crack and no such video exists.

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The Danforth videos once again generated international headlines about the mayor’s conduct and spawned a new Taiwanese animation.

The Star reported in February that Ford has battled alcohol abuse, after his staff were asked to remove him from a military gala because he appeared to be incoherent.

That followed a 2006 incident in which then-councillor Ford was escorted, drunk, out of a Toronto Maple Leafs Game after hurling verbal abuse at a couple, and a 1999 drunk-driving conviction in Florida.

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