Gawker says alleged Rob Ford video might be ‘gone’

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TORONTO – An alleged video of Mayor Rob Ford appearing to show him smoking crack cocaine at the centre of weeks-long chaos at city hall might be “gone,” Gawker says.

Editor John Cook said the owner of the alleged video spoke to the intermediary following a weeks-long silence.

Gawker said it heard from the intermediary, who delivered a message Friday from the owner of the alleged video: “It’s gone. Leave me alone.”

Cook said it is not clear what is meant by “gone.”

Cook wrote that it might mean the alleged video was destroyed, “handed over to Ford or his allies,” or the owner wants to sell or give it to a Canadian media outlet.

“It might mean that the Toronto Police department has seized it and plans to use it as evidence in a criminal investigation. It might mean that it has been transferred to the custody of Somali community leaders for safekeeping,” Cook wrote.

“It might be a lie. The intermediary doesn’t know. Neither do I.”

He said scrutiny and attention following news of the alleged video “had two important consequences.”

The intermediary said a “fear of being identified, and a strong desire from the Somali community to make the whole thing go away” led the owner of the alleged video to go underground and “soured the owner’s relationship with the intermediary,” Cook wrote.

Following its “Crackstarter” crowd-funding campaign, Gawker raised over $200,000 hours ahead of its goal on May 27.

Cook said Gawker is sitting on $184,689.81 after fees taken by PayPal, Indiegogo and contributions they have yet to receive.

“It is obviously our hope that someone steps up to claim this money and provides us the video,” Cook said.

“The intermediary has claimed that a copy of the video was made and taken outside Toronto for safekeeping,” though it’s not clear if that’s true, Cook wrote.

“We can still imagine any number of scenarios in which this video comes to light,” he added.

If the U.S. website is unable to obtain the alleged video, the funds will go toward a Canadian non-profit that addresses substance abuse, Cook said.

Last month, Gawker and the Toronto Star reported they had seen but did not obtain a video allegedly showing Ford appearing to smoke crack cocaine.

Neither of the reports about the alleged video have been independently verified.

Ford has said the alleged video does not exist and that he does not use crack cocaine.

Several of Ford’s staffers have parted company with the mayor since the scandal erupted.

On Wednesday, political affairs specialist John Stall spoke with Toronto Star reporter Kevin Donovan about Gawker’s recent report.

“I do think that the people with the video were thrust into this limelight of speculation over this video, and we certainly persistently heard that they were concerned that they would be arrested for selling the video,” Donovan said.

“We’ve always heard that there was another copy or two floating around; we don’t have it, if we do get it, we’ll make it public,” he said.

“We’re still in contact with people, including the original middleman, but we’re not in direct contact with the person who has the video,” Donovan added.

Listen to the full interview with Donovan below:

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