Daniel Dale moves forward with lawsuit against Rob Ford, despite ‘apology’

Earlier today, Dec 17, Rob Ford publicly apologized for his comments about Daniel Dale in the now infamous Conrad Black interview we all kinda wish never happened. In true Ford fashion, he read it in council chambers the same way a nervous third-grader might read his book report on Charlotte’s Web. Seriously, it’s a sight to behold . . .

Gosh, can you feel the sincerity? If it felt like Ford was ducking culpability by blaming it on the media misinterpreting his statement, Dale wasn’t feeling it either: he’s moving forward with his lawsuit against Ford, having taken to Twitter to explain his intentions:

“I asked Mayor Ford to 1) retract all of his false claims about my conduct and 2) issue an unreserved, abject, complete apology. His statement today didn’t come close. I’m proceeding with a defamation lawsuit. In his “apology,” the mayor didn’t retract anything at all. Instead, he blamed the media for its reasonable interpretation of his words. He also blamed his neighbour. He used the words “lurking” and “leering.”And, crucially, he didn’t retract or specifically apologize for the categorically false, malicious, and in-itself-defamatory claim about me taking pictures of his young kids. I didn’t ask for an “I apologize if.” I asked for an “I apologize because I said false, damaging, and unfounded things, and here they are.”So: while I appreciate the mayor’s first step, no dad or teacher would accept that apology as sufficient. I would appreciate another try.”

So basically, Dale gave Ford a very clear and easy out and still couldn’t get a semi-decent apology out of the guy. And that’s been one of Ford’s biggest faults: he’s too proud to admit when he’s wrong and way too willing to blame things on the media. (Remember when he blamed the media for not asking “the correct question” in regard to his crack scandal? Mm-hmmmmmmm.)

Point is, Ford needs to start admitting culpability when he fucks up, rather than offering roundabout pseudo-apologies. If the options before you are either “suck it up and apologize” or “LAWSUIT!” it probably wouldn’t kill you to bite the bullet and accept the former.