'I wish I was as successful as he was,' the mayor said of the pop star

Mark Blinch / Reuters Toronto Mayor Rob Ford during council at City Hall in Toronto, on Nov. 13, 2013.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford stuck up for Justin Bieber in a radio interview on Thursday, the day after the Canadian singer was charged with assault in his city.

Ford called into the Washington, D.C.-based radio show The Sports Junkies, whose hosts labeled Bieber “Canada’s worst export,” and asked them to put it all in perspective by remembering when they were Bieber’s age. “He’s a young guy, 19 years old. I wish I was as successful as he was,” Ford said, who added he’s never met the singer and is not a fan of his music.

The endorsement from Ford doesn’t carry much weight. Yesterday, Ford was accused of attempting to keep his sister’s ex-boyfriend quiet about his past drug use by having him beaten in jail. And last November, Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine in a “drunken stupor” after long-denying reports that a video showing the act had surfaced.

Bieber turned himself in to Toronto authorities on Wednesday and was charged with allegedly assaulting a limousine driver there on Dec. 29. Bieber was jailed in Miami days earlier for, police charged, drunk driving, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license.

[The Canadian Press]