Top Gear on Hold - Clarkson suspended by beeb.

[TheAnimus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31824040

So there goes the only thing I was going to watch on BBC this week... sigh.

[peterb]

It was only a matter of time. He's been on thin ice for a while. Pity though.

[watercooled]

Thing thing that gets me, especially in this case, is if what Clarkson is saying is considered so potentially offensive, why does the *producer* leave it in?

[g8ina]

Racist ? Doesnt surprise me in the least. The "man" is an idiot. Chuck him away along with Jonathon Woss and all the other wastrels.

[Andy3536]

Thing thing that gets me, especially in this case, is if what Clarkson is saying is considered so potentially offensive, why does the *producer* leave it in?

Racist ? Doesnt surprise me in the least. The "man" is an idiot. Chuck him away along with Jonathon Woss and all the other wastrels.

There's been no suggestion of what the 'fracas' was about, so it's a little early to assume anything. And there were no offensive remarks in Sundays show.
One of the producers was also on Twitter backing Clarkson ever the comments about the MP too. So it can't be that. And would in all seriousness be too tame.

It is and always has been a great entertainment show, and one of the funniest things the BBC does.
I just hope the team carry on, even if they have to move to another channel to do it.

[watercooled]

Nah I just meant in general, and if it happens to be the subject of the argument, it would be silly.

[peterb]

Of course, it could just be a publicity stunt....

[Saracen]

Of course, it could just be a publicity stunt....

Shirley Knott?

[Gerrard]

Thing thing that gets me, especially in this case, is if what Clarkson is saying is considered so potentially offensive, why does the *producer* leave it in?

That is a good point. But then, I never realised that the term "slope" could be used as a racist slur. The more annoying one was when a paper found evidence of him saying the 'N' word in an outtake. I think the BBC had to appologise which I really didn't understand because it was an OUTTAKE! And besides, when I learnt the rhyme Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe as a kid, we used that word but I had no perception of what it meant. Even now, if I were to say that rhyme all the way through, I would probably still use that word out of habit without thinking about it just becuase that was how it always was.

That's not to say the guy is a saint or anything; I can certainly see why people don't like him.

[Knoxville]

Well I suppose they had to do something to try and make this season more interesting. For a while now it's been on a slippery sloooo-inclined plane

Sorry, I understand how low I had to stoop for that joke, my bone idle Mexican writing team will promptly be lined up against a wall, and shot.

Really though, seriously, this season has been just rubbish enough I could actually see this being a publicity stunt if Clarkson hasn't stuck one of his Nimitz class feet in it once again.

[Biscuit]

The more annoying one was when a paper found evidence of him saying the 'N' word in an outtake. I think the BBC had to appologise which I really didn't understand because it was an OUTTAKE! And besides, when I learnt the rhyme Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe as a kid, we used that word but I had no perception of what it meant. Even now, if I were to say that rhyme all the way through, I would probably still use that word out of habit without thinking about it just becuase that was how it always was..

I always learned it as 'catch the Tigger' so it was news to me!
The problem I had with it, was that you really had to want to hear that word to actually hear it, its seriously obviously deliberately mumbled to the point that its indecipherable. As he explained, it was cut out deliberately because they thought it wasn't mumbled enough. That whole debacle was just the tabloids desperately going after Clarkson the way they always do.

[watercooled]

Yeah I agree that debacle was plain idiotic. Look at music 'backmasking' if you want to know how easy it is to form words out of nothing. He might have been repeating it in his head but I didn't hear it when I watched the offending clip TBH, and it could just as easily have been any number of rhyming words. Are people now at risk of being branded a (something)ist for humming the syllables of a rhyme which once contained an offensive word? And again, it didn't even make it in to the show so it was a case of someone hunting for it to create a story.

[TeePee]

The 'offending' clip:



What does it matter? The joke is the difficulty picking between cars, and has nothing to do with race. It's obvious why the clip didn't make it, but this is nothing but a thought crime.

[BobF64]

this is nothing but a thought crime.

And theres the problem. Thinking shouldnt ever be a crime, its actions and intent that matter.

[yamangman]

Pretty happy with this. Not seen the show in years but even then was getting pretty repetative... as for the presenters, less said the better!

[TheAnimus]

And theres the problem. Thinking shouldnt ever be a crime, its actions and intent that matter.

I'm staggered by people who get upset by such things. It was said, off camera, it's a rhyme which, despite been many decades his junior, I knew as that (without realising the implications of the term).