TORONTO – Can you see Toronto mayor Rob Ford biting his fist with glee?
On Saturday, the crack-smoking politician refused to meet in Toronto with the Iron Sheik, the former TV wrestler attending the Hot Docs film festival for the world premiere of his biopic, The Sheik.
The wrestling Hall of Famer, also known as Khosrow Vaziri, followed that apparent snub by endorsing archrival Olivia Chow in an upcoming mayoral election after she met with him at a downtown sandwich shop.
Chow was even pictured wearing a glittering wrestling belt while talking to Vaziri.
But by Monday, Chow took to her Twitter account to swiftly distance herself from the former wrestling world champion after Vaziri’s often homophobic and sexist tweets were revealed to her.
All in good fun, possibly, but not when Chow is running on a progressive platform to unseat Ford, an avowed conservative, as mayor.
“I met the Iron Sheik around his film. I do not condone his hurtful & unacceptable comments. I should have read them and didn’t. I apologize,” Chow tweeted.
The left-wing politician also attended Vaziri’s screening of The Sheik Saturday night at the Hot Docs Cinema, where the former wrestler ranted against the Toronto mayor for not coming out to hear his anti-drugs message.
The Sheik, directed by Igal Hecht, is set for an upcoming release on Vimeo on Demand in May, ahead of a theatrical and broadcast release in Canada.
