Mayor Rob Ford turned down three chances on Friday to address the specifics of media reports about a video in which he appears to smoke crack cocaine and utter an anti-gay slur.

As the reports by the Star and the website Gawker rocketed around the world and councillors of all stripes implored Ford to discuss them in detail, the mayor quietly told reporters in his Etobicoke driveway that unspecified allegations were “absolutely not true” and “ridiculous.” At city hall later, he emerged from his office to offer only a brief statement.

“Anyways, like I said this morning, these allegations are ridiculous, another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me, and that's all I have to say,” he said.

He then proceeded to a city hall flag-raising event held to honour the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, where he appeared shaken as he read a proclamation. As he left, he did not respond when asked twice whether he smokes crack.

Except for Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, who cast doubt on the legitimacy of the video, Ford’s messaging apparatus was also silent. His loquacious brother and fiercest defender, Councillor Doug Ford, cancelled a planned television appearance and did not return calls. In a departure from some previous controversies, neither the mayor’s chief of staff nor press secretary issued a written statement.

The Fords also cancelled their weekly Sunday radio show on Newstalk 1010.

The disclosure of the video’s existence has created the biggest crisis of a turbulent mayoralty that has lurched between unusual difficulties major and minor . The Toronto police are “monitoring the situation closely,” spokesperson Mark Pugash said, though criminal lawyer Daniel Brown said charges are unlikely even if the video emerges.

International news outlets from New Zealand to Italy dissected Ford’s personality and politics on Friday, many of them mocking. The tone of the councillors who weighed in was considerably more serious.

Even Ford’s staunchest allies have complained to him that his non-political problems — such as those related to his football coaching and his driving — were hindering his political agenda. Councillor Josh Colle, a centrist swing voter, said Friday that the new scandal would engulf council if Ford did not address it quickly.

“You hope it’s not true but, either way, I just hope the mayor says something as soon as possible. Because it’s salacious, it will be a massive distraction and we’re dealing with important things like the casino issue,” Colle said. “We hope (the crack allegation) is made up but he has to address it immediately. We can’t have this hanging over us.”

Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby, an Etobicoke councillor who has known Ford for more than a decade, called the allegations “mind-blowing.”

“Come out with it,” she advised him through reporters. “Be honest. Say, ‘Yes it happened,’ or ‘No it didn’t.’ That’s the only way to deal with something like this. Don’t run away from it. Just deal with it.”

Ford, who has long angered the gay community with his refusal to attend the Pride festival , appears to say “Justin Trudeau’s a fag” in the video. Kristyn Wong-Tam, council’s only openly gay member, said he should resign if reports on the video are accurate. So did Helen Kennedy, leader of the advocacy group Egale Canada.

“If the mayor is not educated, and he’s not informed around issues of diversity and social inclusion, then I think he’s not fit to serve,” said Wong-Tam.

The reports may guarantee the end of Ford’s decade-long tenure as a football coach at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary. Some teachers and parents have bristled at the negative attention they believe he has brought to the school, and he was already under review for comments he made two months ago on Sun News. In the video, he appears to refer to Eagles players as “just f---ing minorities.”

A school board spokesperson and parent council leaders declined to comment because they have not seen the video, which was shopped to the Star and other publications by men allegedly involved in the drug trade.

Holyday said: “Certainly we all know that videos can be altered and we certainly know that drug dealers can’t be trusted so we don’t know what we’re dealing with here and until we do I don’t have much to say.”

Asked if he has full confidence in Mayor Ford, Holyday said, “I do at this point.” Asked what would shake his confidence, he said, “Well, if these accusations were substantiated.”

The men in possession of the video asked the Star to pay “six figures” for it. On Friday, Gawker launched a campaign to raise $200,000 in donations from readers to make the purchase.



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Ford drew unwanted comparisons to former Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry, who was arrested for smoking crack while in office in 1990. Now a member of Washington’s city council, Barry weighed in briefly on Ford — telling the Washington City Paper that the cases aren’t similar “unless he was entrapped by the government.” He declined to offer Ford any advice.