Crack claims continue to dog Toronto mayor Toronto Mayor Rob Ford makes a statement to the media at City Hall after his press secretary George Christopoulos and deputy press secretary Isaac Ransom resigned in Toronto, May 27, 2013. Toronto: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's press advisers are the latest to leave their jobs as questions swirl about a video that purportedly shows the mayor smoking crack cocaine. The mayor of Canada's largest city said outside his office on Monday that press secretary George Christopoulos and deputy press secretary Isaac Ransom decided to leave, but he declined to say why. Mr Ford fired his chief of staff last week. Mr Ford also apologised for calling journalists "a bunch of maggots" on his weekly radio show on Sunday. "I sincerely apologise to each and every one of you," Mr Ford told reporters. It has been bothering me a lot. The smoking video has not been released publicly, and its authenticity has not been verified. Reports on gossip website Gawker and in the Toronto Star said it was taken by men who said they had sold drugs to Mr Ford. The Star reported that two journalists had watched a video that appears to show Mr Ford inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. Mr Ford has said there is no video and has called the allegations ridiculous, but he still has not said whether he has ever used crack. Mr Ford had refused to take questions from the media for more than a week but took a couple of questions on Monday before saying he had to leave for a meeting. On Friday, he read a statement to reporters in which he denied using or being addicted to crack cocaine. Some critics of Mr Ford have called on him to step down, but Mr Ford vowed on Sunday to seek re-election next year. Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, a close ally of Mr Ford, told the AP that the mayor's office was already thin. "I don't know what to say to the mayor at this point," Mr Holyday said when asked what advice he has for Mr Ford. During his campaign for mayor, Mr Ford vehemently denied a 1999 arrest for marijuana possession in Florida, but he later acknowledged it was true after he was presented with evidence. The latest controversy has drawn comparisons to the 1990 arrest of then-Washington Mayor Marion Barry, who was videotaped smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room during an FBI sting operation. Barry served six months in federal prison on a misdemeanour drug possession conviction but later won a fourth term as mayor in 1994.