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TORONTO — Toronto mayor Rob Ford has gotten used to taking a few runs at making apologies before they are accepted.
In the latest instance, Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale finally dropped a libel suit against the embattled politician after Ford made his second apology in as many days.
Dale on Tuesday announced he would proceed with the defamation suit as Ford’s first apology “didn’t come close” to fully retracting the offensive remarks he made during a Vision TV interview that aired on Dec. 9 and 10.
Ford commented on a 2012 run-in with Dale near his private home by hinting the Toronto Star reporter was a pedophile for taking photos of children in Ford’s backyard.
“…There was absolutely no basis for the statement I made about Mr. Dale taking pictures of children, or for any insinuations I made,” Ford said in his second apology. “I should not have said what I did and I wholly retract my statements and apologize to Mr. Dale without reservation for what I said,” he added.
Moses Znaimer‘s Zoomer Media, which aired the TV interview on its Vision TV channel, also issued a full apology to Dale on Thursday.
“… We sincerely regret the part Zoomer Media played in broadcasting the offending words spoken by Mr. Ford, and apologize for that. We can confirm that those words will never again be broadcast on any of our television outlets or websites,” Zoomer Media said in its statement.
Dale threatened libel action against Ford after he was interviewed on theZoomer, a talk show co-hosted by disgraced Canadian media baron Conrad Black.
Ford in recent months has issued a slew of apologies, including ones for smoking crack cocaine, calling the media “a bunch of maggots,” appearing in public while “hammered” and knocking down a fellow councilor, Pam McConnell, during a city hall meeting.
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