WATCH: “Shirtless jogger” Joe Killoran heckles Rob Ford on Canada Day
TORONTO – Councillor Doug Ford questioned whether Joe Killoran – better known as the shirtless jogger who heckled Mayor Rob Ford Tuesday – was “indoctrinating” his pupils.
“When you have a teacher, teaching his kids and indoctrinating his kids, in my opinion, about hatred towards one person in politics, something is wrong there,” Ford told reporters.
WATCH: What former students and parents are saying about Joe Killoran, the “shirtless jogger.” Catherine McDonald reports.
Killoran was one of several people who heckled the mayor and his brother as they walked the route of the East York Canada Day parade.
READ MORE: Five signs Rob Ford’s comeback isn’t going so well
“Answer the people’s questions,” Killoran shouted at the mayor. “He won’t answer any questions, he won’t answer journalists’ questions, he won’t answer reporters and he won’t even have reporters at his press conference.”
“It’s one thing to be sick, that is fine, but he has questions to answer for the people of Toronto.”
Doug Ford also accused of Killoran of making a racist slur but then qualified his accusation saying “racism doesn’t have to be about race.”
“What I did say, when you’re going after one person, it doesn’t have to be about religion, it doesn’t have to be about race, you can be racist against people that eat little red apples, you can be racist against people that have a drinking problem, you can be racist against people that are too fat,” he said.
“He was jumping around, doing back flips, going absolutely crazy, yelling at the top of his lungs, he was out of control. He obviously needs therapy, he obviously needs anger management.”
Global News has not been able to contact Killoran for comment Thursday.
Rob Ford has been criticized since returning from rehab for not taking reporters questions.
Killoran is a high school teacher in Toronto who has written a number of opinion pieces for the Toronto Star on religion, social justice and education.
The teacher’s heckling won him the favour of Toronto’s twitter users as #shirtlessjogger quickly became one of the top trending topics in the city with many deeming him a local hero.
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