“The Top Gear road trip across India was filled with incidents but none of them were an insult to the Indian people or the culture of the country. Our film showed the charm, the beauty, the wealth, the poverty and the idiosyncrasies of India but there’s a vast difference between showing a country, warts and all, and insulting it,” Top Gear said in a statement yesterday.
“It’s simply not the case that we displayed a hostile or superior attitude to our hosts and that’s very clear from the way the presenters can be seen to interact with them along the way. We genuinely loved our time in India and if there were any jokes to be had they were, as ever, reflected back on the presenters rather than the Indian people,” it added.
Ahh, Jeremy Clarkson. Last year, you offended Mexicans. This year, you go after the largest English-speaking country and one of the most Internet savvy communities in the world: India.
Last month, Clarkson and his “Top Gear” band of idiots filmed their wildly popular show in India. And Jeremy was in rare form as The Guardian reports:
During the 90-minute special, which was aired twice over the Christmas break, Clarkson made a string of jokes about the Indian food, clothes, toilets, trains and even the country’s history.
Incidents during the show included Clarkson driving a Jaguar around an Indian slum with a toilet fitted in the boot, and stripping off his trousers in public in front of two Indian dignitaries to show them how to use a trouser press. He joked that he used it to make naan bread.
Now the Indian High Commission has formally lodged a complaint to the BBC. Oops. The Guardian story continues:
“We have received a letter [of complaint] from the Indian high commission,” said a spokeswoman for Top Gear. “We will be responding directly to them in due course”.
The spokeswoman would not elaborate on the exact nature of the complaints, although a report in the Telegraph says that the high commission letter accuses the show of being “tasteless” and breaking a filming deal.
“The programme was replete with cheap jibes, tasteless humour and lacked cultural sensitivity that we expect from the BBC,” the high commission said in its letter, according to the Telegraph. “I write this to convey our deep disappointment over the documentary for its content and the tone of the presentation. You are clearly in breach of the agreement that you had entered into, completely negating our constructive and proactive facilitation.”
According the the Guardian, the UK’s most racists ambassadors—Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May—pulled their tasteless and lazy humor pranks throughout India. Here is just a snippet:
One stunt involved putting banners with seemingly innocuous slogans – such as Eat English Muffins – on the side of trains. However, the banners were strategically placed so that when the trains carriages split a new, offensive, phrase emerged: “Eat English Muff.”
The train banner stunt included one slogan that said “British IT For Your Company” that transformed into the word “Shit For Your Company”.
Once again, “Top Gear” is playing to the lowest common denominator of bad and racist British humor. There is wit and then there is “Top Gear.” The fact that it is still popular only confirms that Clarkson knows his audience: better to offend with bad and lazy jokes than to try and be a bit more witty and intelligent. Controversy is a part of comedy, but only when it is good. Give us Monty Python any time.
It all started with this rant on November 30 episode of the BBC’s The One Show. When asked about the recent general strike that recently occurred in the UK, Clarkson had this to say:
“I was just making a joke about the BBC’s need to be impartial. If you listen to the whole interview, you’ll see there isn’t a case to answer.
“I started by saying I supported the strikers. Obviously, because it’s the BBC, I have to be impartial. So then I said they should be shot.
“Most people who are complaining haven’t seen the full interview. It’s a knee-jerk reaction.”
Clarkson’s initial comments on The One Show received over 5,000 complaints to the BBC, as reported by the British media. Even the Prime Minister, David Cameron (a friend of Clarkson’s), called it a “silly thing to say.”
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The BBC’s Jeremy Clarkson Does It Again, But This Time It is Not Mexican Sports Cars
Posted in BBC, tagged Clarkson BBC, Clarkson controversy, Clarkson union comments, Jeremy Clarkson, Jeremy Clarkson controversy, Jeremy Clarkson strike comments on December 4, 2011| 6 Comments »
Just when you thought 2011 would be over for the Jeremy Clarkson, the man whose TOP GEAR “Mexican Sports Car” segment seemed to offend almost every Latino in the world earlier this year, the BBC’s controversial TV star was facing even more problems last week in the UK.
It all started with this rant on November 30 episode of the BBC’s The One Show. When asked about the recent general strike that recently occurred in the UK, Clarkson had this to say:
Maybe the 1% has a new spokesperson?
As you might expect, Clarkson and the BBC were barraged with complaints, so much so that the popular host of TOP GEAR had to issue a somewhat more sincere formal apology (unlike the silly one he did during the Mexican controversy).
As he told The Sun on December 1:
Clarkson’s initial comments on The One Show received over 5,000 complaints to the BBC, as reported by the British media. Even the Prime Minister, David Cameron (a friend of Clarkson’s), called it a “silly thing to say.”
Ah, Jeremy, you just can’t stop.
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