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Gawker gives Crackstarter money to charity

Crackpipe-refer.jpg

Gawker’s Crackstarter campaign has failed to secure the most explosive (alleged) footage in Toronto political history, but at least the money it raised won’t be going to waste.

On June 4, the U.S. website announced that its crowdsourced effort to buy a cell phone video it claimed showed Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine had stalled. The site had successfully collected $200,000 to pay to the men holding the alleged footage, but the somewhere along the way the middleman in the transaction went to ground.

At the time, Gawker editor John Cook pledged that if he couldn’t buy the video, he would donate the money to charities that fight substance abuse. On Thursday, he announced that Gawker’s quest for the footage was over, and revealed which four organizations will be getting the money.

“I’m disappointed to announce definitively that the money won’t be going to purchase and publish a video of Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine,” he wrote. “Instead, we are pursuing the Plan B we laid out when we began the project.”

The following four groups will split the Crackstarter’s $201,199 (minus PayPal and Indiegogo fees) equally, which works out to $46,195.65 each. That’s a nice bit of change, and it makes for a rather agreeable end to this sordid affair.

1. The Somali Canadian Association of Etobicoke, which helps immigrants and refugees from the East African country

2. The South Riverdale Community Health Centre, a non-profit that operates a harm reduction program in southeast Toronto

3. Union Health and Community Services, which operates a harm reduction and violence interruption programs

4. Ontario Regional Addictions Partnership Committee, which facilitates the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program in Ontario

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