THIS WEEK’S EPISODE of Top Gear has been cut after Jeremy Clarkson got himself into a big bit of bother with the BBC.
The Beeb confirmed earlier this evening that Clarkson has been suspended following a ‘fracas’ with a Top Gear producer, which is to be investigated by the company.
This isn’t the first time Clarkson has gotten himself into trouble – in fact, there have been many, many more fracas and indeed, brouhahas.
When he and his Top Gear team were forced out of Argentina
Clarkson angered many in October 2014 when he drove around the Falklands in a Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL – a reference some thought directly related to the 1982 Falklands conflict.
The protests outside his hotel got so bad that Clarkson and the Top Gear team had to leave.
When he nearly got sacked for singing a racist song
Last year, Clarkson was put on “final warning” by the BBC after he was caught mumbling a racist term while reciting “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe” on the Top Gear set.
When the BBC received more than 20,000 complaints over a joke he made
The Top Gear presenter had been asked for his views on the two million public sector workers who went on strike in Britain in 2010.
Clarkson replied with this choice quote: “I’d have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families.”
When he offended the whole country of India
In January 2012, viewers complained in their droves after Clarkson built a toilet in the back of a Jaguar during filming in India.
He claimed it would be “perfect” for tourists because “everyone” who visits the country suffers diarrhoea.
When he compared an old car to a person with special needs
Comparing two Ferraris, Clarkson described the older one as a “simpleton” that should be called the “430 Speciale Needs” instead of the 430 Speciale.
When he had this to say about burkas
In July 2010, he decided to join in on the debate over burkas with this:
Honestly, the burka doesn’t work. I was in a cab in Piccadilly the other day when a woman in a full burka crossing the road in front of me tripped over the pavement, went head over heels and up it came, red g-string and stockings.
Viewers immediately branded the joke ‘obscene’ and ‘distasteful’.
When he called lorry drivers ‘murderers’
Back in November 2008, Clarkson decided to have a go at lorry drivers, for some reason:
Change gear, change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That’s a lot of effort in a day.
When he was filmed doing a mock Nazi salute
Clarkson made a mock Nazi salute during a segment about a BMW in a November 2005 episode of Top Gear. He also quipped that the car’s built-in navigation system “only goes to Poland”.
When he tried to insult Gordon Brown
During a press conference in 2009, Clarkson called then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”. Yikes.
