This tweet is not TOP GEAR Producer James May, but it still stings.
The following is the official response from the BBC in the UK:
“The Executive Producer for Top Gear has written to the Mexican Ambassador and apologised for the comments made about him during the show. On the broader issue of comments about Mexicans as people, the show has explained they were making comic use of a stereotype; a practice with which regular viewers of Top Gear will be familiar.
“We are sorry if we have offended some people, but jokes centred on national stereotyping are a part of Top Gear’s humour, and indeed a robust part of our national humour. Our own comedians make jokes about the British being terrible cooks and terrible romantics, and we in turn make jokes about the Italians being disorganised and over dramatic; the French being arrogant and the Germans being over organised. When we do it, we are being rude, yes, and mischievous, but there is no vindictiveness behind the comments.
“This stereotyping humour is in itself a factor in the tolerance which the ambassador states is so prevalent in Britain.
“In line with that tradition, stereotype based comedy is allowed within BBC guidelines in programmes where the audience has clear expectations of that being the case, as indeed it is with Top Gear. Whilst it may appear offensive to those who have not watched the programme or who are unfamiliar with its humour, the Executive Producer has made it clear to the Ambassador that that was absolutely not the show’s intention.”
The video in question is below:
BTW: I just sent the following to the BBC:
First of all, I would like to thank you for blocking the YouTube broadcasting of the offensive TOP GEAR show that slurs and insults Mexicans. By doing so, you allowed my own blog to gain amazing web traffic since I have actual files of the videos and people can freely see what was said, without censorship from you in the name of copyright. Your public statement does very little to address the issues regarding TOP GEAR and its three hosts. The humor was way out of line and they deserve a suspension and a public (broadcasted) apology needs to be made to the people of Mexico and all US Latinos. This problem has not gone away with some standard PR old media statement. The furor on social media has continued. We would like the opportunity to actually interview the three hosts to get their side of this story. Can you make that happen?
Lame response.
You’re right, Julio, IT IS LAME! BTW, happy to help out with the video here.
I think I’m going to send the BBC another email.
Can I buy you dinner when we meet IRL? You are amazing.
I sent them another one, too!
I would’ve taken his apology seriously only if Top Gear was funny, but I’m not.
LAME apology, so LAME. The fight has just started. Share the crap out of it.
Not only does the comment debase Mexico and Mexicans in racist terms subscribing to repugnant stereotypes painting Mexicans as people with no culture or cleanliness. It is also an afront to all the worldly contributions Mexicans have made. As a latino I am offended and find the apology a half-baked attempt to diffuse one man’s utter ignorance and stupidity. I thought that Brits were more civilized than that!
Alwyn, I agree with you, bro. Those crazy hothead Latinos are causing problems again! LAME response by BBC.
How do you get a mexican to move fast ?
Tell him the US border guards have gone to lunch and left the border unguarded.
Get a life, Top gear take the piss out of all nations. Your the only muppets to complain, whats up have nothing else to do. Truth hurts.
Thanks for the comments, Speedy, and I appreciate you taking the time to add to my amazing blog traffic the last few days!
And Speedy, as comedian myself, stick your day job. Be a bit more clever with your jokes.
Again, my blog traffic thanks you for coming to visit!
Speedy, You’re an ignorant **** and just as racist as James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard “The Hamster” Hammond.
Even some Brits hate Top Gear. Stewart Lee – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0i0RXMvzMs
¡Vaya, Laura!
If the BBC thinks jokes that perpetuate outdated national stereotypes are “satire” it’s time for the network to grow up and join the rest of us adults in the 21st century. Harping on sleepy, barefoot Mexicans in serapes is hardly the kind of wit one would expect from the nation that gave us Oscar Wilde.
BTW, I’d like know if the BBC would think it funny if foreigners made loutish jokes about the Queen? We all draw the line on humor that is in bad taste in different places. Time for the BBC to raise the bar.
And Raul, I LOVE the fact that the statement says that they also make fun of Germans and Italians when the video clip was portraying Germans and Italians as sexy and sleek.
If I am to understand BBC’s apology/explanation and Speedy’s comments, 1) Top Gear was satirizing a stereotype and 2) the audience was laughing at the loutishness of the presenters, not at their supposedly clever comments about Mexicans, and 3) Top Gear frequently satirizes stereotypes in that manner. Hmmm. I think this is a too convoluted for my tiny, little mind to follow.
If I am to understand BBC’s apology/explanation and Speedy’s comments, 1) Top Gear was satirizing a stereotype and 2) the audience was laughing at the loutishness of the presenters, not at their supposedly clever comments about Mexicans, and 3) Top Gear frequently satirizes stereotypes in that manner. Hmmm. I think this is too convoluted for my tiny, little mind to follow.
Mark, thanks for sharing. And yes, the jokes were lame. Did I say that already? LOL
One of the best thing about speaking English is my ability to curse the Top Gear bastards in their own language. I’ll bet by tomorrow James May knows what “pendejo” means!
Wait until you see what we have in store for you tomorrow. A response from a top-line Emmy-winning Latino comedian, who does comedy and satire the right way: with intelligence and wit.
this deserves nothing less than widespread twitter debasement of their sorry selves
Totally. What a bunch of lame PR heads. Old media is dead!
I winced while watching those clips. Those guys are usually lovable buffoons, but either they or their writers are pretty ignorant to take their “comedy” in that direction. Nice job, Julio, in taking them to task.
I agree, Bear. I like the TOP GEAR show. But these lovable buffoons are just buffoons with this segment.
I admire how you’ve chosen to use your influence Julio — bring attention to issues that matter and make a difference.
Lame is the only word that comes to mind…
Kudos to you!
Mark, social media is the great flattener. Old media still doesn’t get it.
en principio no todos los mexicanos son holgazanes y se la pasan todo el día durmiendo, así como no todos los mexicanos usan el dichoso “abrigo”, yo creo que están usando estereotipos de hace mas de 50 años, y eso esta simplemente jodido. Es como si nosotros dijéramos que los ingleses tienen los dientes cafés y torcidos, y que todos son unos pinches abusivos que no soportan ver a su equipo perder, lo cual esta mal. yo por ejemplo soy estudiante de medicina y orgullosamente mexicano, y les puedo decir que lo mas que puedo dormir son 2 o 3 horas. las otras 21 horas o estoy estudiando o tomando clases, creo que eso implica que no estoy dormido todo el día, y para ser sinceros mi profesión me da mejores sensaciones que ver que coche corre mas, o cual es el mas barato. En resumen, esas ideas están simplemente erróneas, sus disculpas son patéticas, y generalizar es malo, así como basarse en películas para dar comentarios.
P.D. No le pondrían taco al coche le pondrían quesadilla jejeje por q lo mejor va dentro del coche.
Excelente comentario.
These men are the best example of powerful, bigoted, pigs which should be taken off of the air. We should all protest against acts of racism like this by not watching their television shows and spreading the word to everyone we know about how racist these men are. This demonstration is disgusting and breeds hatred and discrimination. Mexicans and Latinos are a powerhouse, not lazy and the bbc/Top Gear better start apologizing immediately.
Thanks, Cynthia. De acuerdo.
Just because they’ve always done it doesn’t mean it’s okay! Please…how insulting they are to the intelligence of the rest of us who know this is unacceptable. Keep it up my friend!
Get a grip guys – Jesus – TopGear tales the piss out of everyone – INCLUDING their own countrymen.
They’ve made some terribly disparaging remarks about Aussies, but who gives a crap? Besides, they are simply playing to an already established stereotype.
Bob, thanks for your comments. You look at it much differently that others and that’s cool. I like TOP GEAR as a show but the jokes in that show were lame. They weren’t even good. Sorry, I think differently. Thanks again for visiting my blog!
Truly ignorant of you, mate! Get out of my country~
I am starting to like you a lot.
Playing to established stereotypes is the problem. Why perpetuate hatred?
Also, that stereotype of a Mexican is actually diminishing in the U.S. That’s one reason it was painful to see these British TV personalities using it–I fear that stereotype will make a comeback in the U.S.
Rudy, you are quickly earning TOP DOG status with your insight and comments. You are right: a George Lopez did a great job saying those stereotypes were stupid in a funny. These three blokes, who have no humor with this segment, took the lazy route. Sucks for them
1961, Color TV appear thanks to a Mexican!! The World knows about chocolate thanks to our land, it is even the same word it is used in Nahuatl, a native Mexican Language.
and the list is longer than this….
Some Mexican nationals with their inventions include:
Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena: GNOME (GNU Network Model Environment) GUI for Unix/Linux Operating Systems.
Armando M. Fernández: the mousepad.
Guillermo Gonzales Camarena: Color television.
Luis Miramontes: co-inventor of Contraceptive pill.
Victor Celorio: Book On Demand, as well as a set of Distributed Printing technologies in which an e-book is distributed among many printing centers as required for immediate production and delivery.
Jose Hernandez Rebollar: Acceleglove, a glove that can translate sign language into speech.
Heberto Castillo: Tridilosa, a light and highly resistant material made from steel and concrete and widely used in civil engineering.
Maria Gonzales: Invasive amebiasis diagnostic methods.
Felipe Vadillo: Method of predicting premature fetal membrane rupture in pregnant women.
Juan Lozano: The rocket belt.
Emilio Sacristan: air-pressure powered driver for pneumatic ventricular assist device (VAD).
Some older, low-tech inventions include:
The ‘$’ sign, used by many currencies around the world.
Mexico introduced chocolate to the world (Aztec: xocolatl), (Maya: chocolha).
Also corn, beans, tomatoes and many species of squash were domesticated in Mexico.
Viva Mexico!!!!!
Love it! You go!!!!
I think that comedy went too far, but what also gets produced in Mexico by its own giant net Televisa is WAAAYYY worse, like this ‘stereotype-comedy” attack on black people:
Yeah, TELEVISA is another issue. More blogs about this soon.
they offended, the network responded, it’s over. Move on.
Events in Egypt and the Middle East are dominating world news this week, as well they should, and impact millions of people’s lives in a very real way. I’m more concerned about that than a few offensive comments right now. Keep the big picture in perspective.
Thanks for your comments.
Being upset by Top Gear does not imply that we are not watching the world events, however, such dismissive language attempts to minimize the question of racism against Mexicans and Chicanos.
Start here for a little history lesson: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_e290610e-eaea-5234-9aa3-20f1a75e34a6.html
You are my favorite commenter right now.
FYI, the BBC response was LAME. And I wasn’t aware that Egypt was in turmoil. Thanks for the reminder!