TORONTO — His recollection is foggy due to one of his drunken episodes, but Toronto mayor Rob Ford says he was imitating Hulk Hogan, not threatening his jailed son-in-law, in one of his infamous rant videos.
That justification came Thursday as a lawyer for the crack-smoking Canadian politician filed a statement of defense against a civil lawsuit from Scott MacIntyre, a former common-in-law partner of Ford’s sister, Kathy Ford, according to the Toronto Star newspaper.
In the legal action, MacIntyre alleges Ford ordered a jailhouse beating to stop him talking about crack cocaine use, alcohol abuse and criminal associations.
The alleged prison shower assault plot gained attention when it became tied to a leaked video where Ford goes on an angry tirade and utters death threats, including “I’m going to kill that f—ing guy,” without specifying a target.
The video shows an agitated and, at times, incoherent Ford stomping around an unidentified home.
The mayor said he was “very, very inebriated” when the video first streamed on the Toronto Star newspaper website in November, 2013.
Ford, in his defense statement, now contends he “was discussing and imitating as a joke the pre-match rant of a professional wrestler.”
The mayor, not long after the rant video, participated in an arm-wrestling match at FanExpo in Toronto with Hulk Hogan in which he won.
As a result, Ford’s lawyer in the defense statement states MacIntyre’s lawsuit against the mayor “knowingly lacks merit, is frivolous and vexatious, is an abuse of the process of this honorable court, and is utterly irresponsible being designed for the collateral and improper purpose of maximizing publicity and notoriety.”
The rant video is one of many that have come to light since the U.S. gossip website Gawker and the Toronto Star last year first revealed the existence of a videotape in which Ford is allegedly inhaling crack cocaine from a glass pipe.
The mayor, who is currently running for re-election in a tight contest, has since admitted to using illicit drugs and consuming excessive alcohol.
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