Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford released a two page apology letter Wednesday for saying a newspaper reporter was inappropriately “taking pictures of little kids.”
The Toronto Star reporter, Daniel Dale, said he would drop a defamation lawsuit he had filed against the mayor after Ford released the open letter. In the letter, Ford said he had been inaccurate in his description of a May 2012 incident in which Dale attempted to take photographs near his home for a story.
“I once again apologize to Mr. Dale for the imprecise and inaccurate manner in which I described the events which followed our encounter in May 2012,” Ford wrote. “There was absolutely no basis for the statement I made about Mr. Dale taking pictures of children, or for any insinuations I made. 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.”
Ford previously interrupted a city council meeting Tuesday to read a statement apologizing to Dale.
“I never called Mr. Dale a pedophile, I have never used that word to describe Mr. Dale, I do not believe Dale is a pedophile nor did I intend to suggest that in my comments,” Ford said.
Dale responded to Ford’s initial statement by saying it “did not come close to doing what I had asked, which was to retract all of the false claims and to issue an unreserved, unqualified apology.”
