Ford: I'm embarrassed; we've all made mistakes
After being mocked mercilessly on "Saturday Night Live," Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sat down with the "Today" show for an interview that aired Tuesday, telling Matt Lauer he doesn't actually remember smoking crack cocaine in his now infamous "drunken stupor," but that he is nonetheless fit to lead.
"I can't even remember it," Ford said of his crack use caught on video. "I was very, very inebriated."
“I’m embarrassed," Ford said. “Not just myself, my family, my friends, my supporters, the whole city. I take full responsibility for it. We've all made mistakes. I’m not perfect. Maybe you are, maybe other people are, [but] I've made mistakes.”
The interview was broadcast a day after a raucous City Council meeting in which Ford blasted lawmakers and knocked over a councilwoman before being stripped of more powers in the wake of his crack admission.
"What happened today, that's dictatorship and it's all personal," Ford told ABC News Monday. "All they did was stab me in the back and over issues, the same issues that I've admitted to that they do. But nobody knows about it."
"I'm not a thief," Ford told CNN in an interview broadcast Monday. "I'm the most honest guy ever."
Ford was then asked if he's seeing any addiction specialists.
"I'm not an addict," he said. "Why go see an addict when I'm not an addict? I'm not an alcoholic, I'm not a drug addict.
"All these rich, elitist people, I'm sick of them, I'm sick of them," he continued. "No, they're perfect, they don't do nothing. Get out of here, they don't do nothing. They're the biggest crooks around."
City Councilman Doug Ford, Rob Ford's brother and chief defender, admitted he does get concerned about the mayor's health.
"His weight issues, when he goes on a binge, when he goes, if you want to call it binge-drinking, and I hear about it, yeah, it's concerning," Doug Ford said. "Do I know, on a personal side, has Rob been 100 percent honest? No, he hasn't."
Rob Ford said he is trying to lose weight.
"I have a weight issue," Ford told Lauer. "I've been training every day. All I can say is actions speak louder than words. I invite you to come back. Give me five or six months, and if they don't see a difference, I'll eat my words."
