NOW Magazine editor and publisher Michael Hollett says the paper is considering legal action against the office of Toronto mayor Rob Ford following last week’s directive to remove copies of NOW from City Hall.

The issue in question features several photoshopped images of Ford to accompany its cover story: The Naked Truth About Rob Ford.

“I mean it’s pretty odious, this whole notion of punishing people for ideas you don’t agree with and try to make it go away,” Hollett tells the CBC. “We’re definitely exploring what our legal options are … we can’t let these kind of attacks go unresponded to.”

Meanwhile, the mayor’s office has seemingly backed away from its first memo, with a spokesperson saying “perhaps there was a bit of a miscommunication saying that the mayor’s office wanted [NOW] removed.”

The images have stirred a passionate ethical debate as well, with many commenters — even on NOW‘s own site — criticizing the paper for being distasteful and childish.

But Hollett defends the decision, telling the CBC Ford has played “the large man card” himself by referring to himself in the past as “300 pounds of fun.”

He adds that angry residents should be happy that NOW‘s creative team didn’t end up going with some of the more extreme shots it was batting around.

“To be honest, the public will all appreciate us for not running the ones where we actually had him pouring gravy on himself like in [the movie] Flashdance,” Hollett says.