Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s past scandals are returning to the spotlight, but this time around, in a Netflix documentary series coming out next month and Torontonians have mixed reactions.
Set to premiere on June 17, Trainwreck is part of an anthology that explores some of the most shocking and controversial events in recent history. It first made waves with an episode on the 1999 Woodstock festival, which was marked by rampant sexual violence and chaos at a former military base in New York.
According to Netflix, The upcoming eight episodes will cover a wide range of events from around the world that dominated mainstream media, from the mid-2000s cult of American Apparel to the 2021 Astroworld Festival fatal crowd crush.
But one of the key episodes, titled “Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem,” focuses on Ford’s controversial time as the mayor of Toronto. The episode will take a look at his 2010 mayoral election victory, which took a turn to what Netflix describes as a “slow-motion disaster” once allegations of hard drug usage come to light and spread internationally.
In 2013, a video surfaced showing the former mayor smoking crack cocaine, which he later admitted to. Three years later, Ford was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor and died at the age of 46.
This isn’t the first time Ford’s tumultuous career has made its way to the big screen. In 2024, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent referenced the infamous moment in an episode called “Crack Reporter,” which dramatized the viral Ford video while he was under the influence. Another time the former mayor was also parodied on screen was in the 2019 film Run This Town, which offered a fictionalized take on the political drama surrounding Ford, told through the eyes of city hall staffers and reporters.
Many Torontonians say they’re eager to see how the story will be depicted.
Shabbir Kothari says he’s “excited” to see the former mayor once again on television.
“He’s an entertaining person… I’d love to see the whole story, the behind the scenes,” he said to Now Toronto.
Another resident, Shawna Wish echoed similar sentiments.
“I can’t wait to see it,” she said.
I think it’s just gonna be such an interesting snippet of time in Toronto… it’ll be interesting to see a different perspective on it, because in the moment, it just felt absolute chaos.”
Haley Benoit says she looks forward to the episode, and thinks many other Torontonians secretly are too.
“As much as people hate on the Ford brothers, I feel like everyone lowkey loves them too. They love the chaoticness that has come with them,” she said.
“I think it’s going to be cool to learn things that maybe we don’t necessarily know, and to see them in a different way.”
