rfmcdonald | [URBAN NOTE] On a Sun Media idiocy (Reply)

Torontoist's Steve Kupferman shared the news about a particularly egregious statement made by Sun News personality David Menzies on the brothers' Ford radio show. Menzies' a personality, apparently, though not one I'd heard of before. I said "particularly egregious," by the way, because as this Toronto Life blog posting makes clear he said quite a few other things.

“Could you imagine if I was at that all-candidates meeting and I went to George Smitherman and I said, ‘You know what—you know, George, being a practicing homosexual, and being the fact that you’ve been involved with all kinds of illicit drug use, how do we know you won’t engage in high-risk sex and drug use that will bring about HIV leading to AIDS, and you’ll die in office? I would be run out of town on a rail!… It is despicable, and it speaks of the double standard with the left-wing media in this city, Mayor Ford.”

—David Menzies, speaking on Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford’s weekly radio talk show on Sunday. The topic was the left-wing media’s supposed bullying of the mayor, as evidenced by the coverage of Ford’s run-in with Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale last week. The all-candidates meeting to which Menzies is referring took place during the 2010 mayoral election. During a q-and-a period with mayoral candidates, a man named Marvin Kay, who identified himself as a physician, took the mic and told Rob Ford, “I’m concerned about your weight. Do you think you’ll be able to handle the entire four-year term?” Menzies was arguing that the media would have thrown a fit had an equally rude question been asked of then-candidate George Smitherman, who is gay, and who has admitted to having used drugs in the past. Except, judging by the reaction on Twitter and elsewhere, Menzies seems to have overshot “equally rude” and landed squarely in “unbelievably offensive” territory. (Which he would doubtless say only proves his point.)

Two linked points.

1. Aren't the brothers Ford responsible for what their guests say on their radio show?

2. Is anyone really surprised that Rob Ford isn't going to attend Pride, after this especially?