Activities on Top Gear In 2004, the BBC apologised unreservedly and paid £250 in compensation to a
Somerset parish council, after Clarkson damaged a 30-year-old
horse-chestnut tree by driving into it to test the strength of a
Toyota Hilux. In December 2006, the BBC complaints department upheld the complaint of four
Top Gear viewers that Clarkson had used the phrase "ginger beer" (
rhyming slang for "
queer") in a derogatory manner, when Clarkson picked up on and agreed with an audience member's description of the
Daihatsu Copen as being a bit "gay". The
Top Gear: Polar Special was criticised by the
BBC Trust for glamorising
drunk driving in a scene depicting Clarkson and James May consuming alcohol whilst Clarkson says to camera, "And please do not write to us about drinking and driving, because I am not driving, I am sailing," thereby implying that they were driving on frozen
international waters. Despite the show's producers claiming that the incident occurred outside the jurisdiction of any drunk-driving laws, the BBC Trust maintained that the scene "was not editorially justified". In a later incident during a
Top Gear episode broadcast on 13 November 2005, Clarkson, while talking about a
Mini design that might be "quintessentially German", made a mock
Nazi salute, and made references to
Nazi Germany and the German
invasion of Poland by suggesting the GPS "only goes to Poland". In November 2008, Clarkson attracted over 500 complaints to the BBC when he joked about
lorry drivers murdering prostitutes. The BBC stated the comment was a comic rebuttal of a common misconception about lorry drivers and was within the viewer's expectation of Clarkson's
Top Gear persona. Andrew Tinkler, chief executive of the
Eddie Stobart Group, a major trucking company, stated that "They were just having a laugh. It's the 21st century, let's get our sense of humour in line." who was present at the recording, the BBC denied that he had been given a "dressing down".
John Whittingdale, Conservative chair of the
Culture Select Committee remarked: "Many people will find that offensive, many people will find that word in particular very offensive [...] I am surprised he felt it appropriate to use it." In an episode aired after the
watershed on 1 August 2010, Clarkson described a
Ferrari F430 as "
special needs". He said the car owned by co-presenter
James May looked "like a simpleton". Media regulator Ofcom investigated after receiving two complaints, and found that the comments "were capable of causing offence" but did not censure the BBC. On 12 January 2012, the
Indian High Commission lodged a formal complaint with the BBC over the "tasteless" antics of Clarkson's
Top Gear Christmas special where he mocked India's culture and people. During the 90-minute special, which was aired twice over the Christmas break, Clarkson made a string of jokes about Indian food, clothes, toilets, trains and history. On an episode of
Top Gear broadcast on 5 February 2012, Clarkson compared a Japanese car / camper van to a person with a growth on their face. A major UK charity that supports people with facial disfigurements,
Changing Faces, complained to the BBC and
Ofcom after Clarkson's remarks. In an unused take for a
Top Gear feature recorded in early 2012, Clarkson is alleged to have mumbled the racial slur "
nigger" when repeating the children's rhyme
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. The clip later surfaced on the website of the
Daily Mirror tabloid at the beginning of May 2014. In the take, Clarkson attempts to mumble the sentence so as to obscure the word, but admitted that upon a close listening, the word could still be heard. Clarkson apologised for his efforts not being "quite good enough" to ensure the footage was not used. It was reported on 3 May that the BBC had given Clarkson a final warning, with the presenter accepting that he would be sacked if he made another offensive remark. Near the end of the
Top Gear: Burma Special, which aired March 2014, Clarkson and
Richard Hammond were seen admiring a wooden bridge, which they had built during the episode. Clarkson is quoted as saying, "That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it" as a native crosses the bridge, with "
slope" being a pejorative for Asians.
Top Gear Executive Producer Andy Wilman responded: "When we used the word slope in the recent
Top Gear Burma Special it was a light-hearted word play joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing it. We were not aware at the time, and it has subsequently been brought to our attention, that the word slope is considered by some to be offensive." In October 2014, Clarkson attracted controversy when filming the
Top Gear: Patagonia Special after driving a
Porsche 928 in
Argentina with the
registration number H982 FKL, allegedly referring to the 1982
Falklands War. Also, during the broadcast, Clarkson was seen referring to the controversy that had risen after the Burma Special; when inspecting a bridge, which he and his colleagues had built during the episode, he was quoted as saying "That is a proud moment, Hammond, but... is it straight?" With Hammond replying "Yes".
Activities outside Top Gear In October 1998,
Hyundai complained to the BBC about what they described as "bigoted and racist" comments he made at the
Birmingham Motor Show, where he was reported as saying that the people working on the Hyundai stand had "eaten a dog" and that the designer of the
Hyundai XG had probably eaten a spaniel for his lunch. Clarkson also allegedly referred to those working on the
BMW stand as "
Nazis", with BMW saying that they would not lodge a complaint and giving Clarkson "the benefit of the doubt". In April 2007, Clarkson was criticised in the Malaysian parliament for having described one of their cars, the
Perodua Kelisa, as the worst in the world, adding that "its name was like a disease and [suggesting] it was built in jungles by people who wear leaves for shoes". A Malaysian government minister countered, pointing out that no complaints had been received from UK customers who had bought the car. In February 2009, while in Australia, Clarkson made disparaging remarks aimed at the British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown, calling him a "one-eyed Scottish idiot", and accused him of lying. These comments were widely condemned by the
Royal National Institute of Blind People; they were also condemned by Scottish politicians, who requested that he should be taken off air. He subsequently apologised for referencing Brown's monocular blindness, but said: "I haven't apologised for calling him an idiot." His column for
The Sun newspaper on 4 September 2011 drew angry remarks in response to Clarkson's call to abolish the
Welsh language: "I think we are fast approaching the time when the United Nations should start to think seriously about abolishing other languages. What's the point of Welsh, for example? All it does is provide a silly maypole around which a bunch of hotheads can get all nationalistic." On 30 November 2011, while being interviewed on the BBC's
The One Show, Clarkson commented on the UK's public sector strike that day, lauding the capital's empty roads. After mentioning the BBC's need for balance, he said, "I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families." The programme later apologised for his remarks, with further apologies issued by Clarkson and the BBC. These remarks had attracted 21,335 complaints to the BBC within 36 hours; the BBC also received 314 messages of support for Clarkson. Clarkson was criticised by the mental health charity
Mind for his 3 December 2011, column for
The Sun, in which he described those who jump in front of trains as "Johnny Suicide" and argues that following a death, trains should carry on their journeys as soon as possible. He adds: "The train cannot be removed nor the line reopened until all of the victim's body has been recovered. And sometimes the head can be half a mile away from the feet." ... "Change the driver, pick up the big bits of what's left of the victim, get the train moving as quickly as possible and let foxy woxy and the birds nibble away at the smaller, gooey parts that are far away or hard to find."
Road safety Clarkson often discusses high-speed driving on public roads, criticising road safety campaigns involving cameras and speed bumps. In 2002, a
Welsh Assembly Member Alun Pugh wrote to BBC Director-General Greg Dyke to complain about Clarkson's comments that he believed encouraged people to use Welsh roads as a high-speed test track. A BBC spokesman said that suggestions Clarkson had encouraged speeding were "nonsense". In a November 2005
Times article, Clarkson wrote on the Bugatti Veyron, "On a recent drive across Europe I desperately wanted to reach the top speed but I ran out of road when the needle hit 240 mph," and "From the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. I cannot tell you how fast I crossed it the other day. Because you simply wouldn't believe me." In 2007, solicitor
Nick Freeman represented Clarkson against a charge of driving at 86 mph in a 50 mph zone on the
A40 road in London, defeating it on the basis that the driver of the car loaned to Clarkson from Alfa Romeo could not be ascertained. In 2008, Clarkson claimed in a talk at the
Hay Festival to have been given a speeding ticket for driving at 186 mph on the
A1203 Limehouse Link road in London.
Dismissal from Top Gear , where the incident took place In March 2015, Clarkson was suspended by the BBC from
Top Gear following a "fracas" with one of the show's producers, Oisin Tymon. It emerged that Clarkson had been involved in a dispute over catering while filming on location in
Hawes,
North Yorkshire, having been refused a steak (the chef had gone home) and offered soup and cold meat instead. The BBC announced that the next episode of the show would not be broadcast on 15 March. Tymon also said that Clarkson had called him a "lazy Irish cunt". Clarkson's contract with the BBC expired at the end of March, and a previously proposed three-year renewal was withdrawn. A
Change.org petition, aiming to reverse the BBC decision, was started on 10 March by blogger
Guido Fawkes. The petition reached its target 1,000,000 signatures by the afternoon of 20 March, and was delivered to the BBC in an
artillery vehicle by a man dressed as
Top Gear test driver
The Stig, with Fawkes as spokesman. The hosting website described the petition as the fastest-growing campaign in its history. On 19 March 2015, at a charity auction at the
Roundhouse in Camden, north London, Clarkson launched into a verbal tirade against BBC studio bosses related to his suspension from the programme, saying "The BBC have fucked themselves." He later stated that this was "meant in jest". On 25 March 2015, the BBC released an official statement confirming that, as a result of the actions which led to his suspension, they would not be renewing his contract with the show. Following the statement,
North Yorkshire Police requested to view the report and stated that "action will be taken by North Yorkshire police where necessary". However, Tymon informed the police that he did not wish to press charges against Clarkson, and Clarkson urged fans of the show to stop
trolling Tymon on social media, as what happened was not his fault. British police investigated death threats made against BBC Director-General
Tony Hall over Clarkson's firing. Less than 24 hours after his dismissal, Clarkson was approached by
Zvezda, a Russian state broadcaster, to present a motoring programme. In his
Sunday Times column on 19 April, Clarkson said that two days before he hit Tymon, he had been told by his doctor that a lump he had could be
cancer of the tongue. Testing later confirmed that it was not cancerous. In the same column, he stated that he had initially considered retiring from television following his dismissal, but was now planning a new motoring programme. In November 2015, Tymon sued Clarkson and the BBC for
racial discrimination over the verbal abuse he received in the March incident. The following February, Clarkson formally apologised to Tymon and settled the racial discrimination and personal injury claim for £100,000. He had used the same reference in an article published in
The Sun in December 2018 to defend Meghan: In his other columns, Clarkson criticised Meghan for her "simpering victimhood", called her a "silly little cable TV actress", and stated that her climate change pleas make him want to "shoot a polar bear in the middle of its face." The
Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) said it had received more than 25,100 complaints about the piece, making it the article with the most number of complaints attached to it since IPSO's establishment in 2014. The number is also more than the total number of complaints made to IPSO in 2021, which was 14,355. On 19 December 2022,
The Suns website published a statement in response to the criticism: "In light of Jeremy Clarkson's tweet he has asked us to take last week's column down." In light of the controversy,
Edward Faulks, the chair of IPSO, declined a private dinner invitation by
Rupert Murdoch, who owns
The Sun. The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, whose name was also mentioned in the column, described Clarkson's comments as "deeply misogynist and just downright awful and horrible" and warned that "words have consequences". The prime minister,
Rishi Sunak, responded to the controversy by emphasising that "language matters". In a letter to ITV chief executive
Carolyn McCall,
SNP MP
John Nicolson called on the organisation to sack Clarkson. On 21 December,
Kevin Lygo, the managing director of ITV, stated at a
Broadcasting Press Guild event that Clarkson would remain host of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? "at the moment" as ITV had "no control" over what he said in
The Sun newspaper column, but added that what he wrote "was awful" and "he should apologise" for his comments. On the same day the head of the
Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Rowley stated Clarkson would not face criminal proceedings for his actions as it was not the job of officers to "police people's ethics" and the police could generally get involved when "things are said that are intended or likely to stir up or incite violence".
Peter Herbert, the chair of the
Society of Black Lawyers, wrote to the
Metropolitan Police requesting an investigation under the
Public Order Act 1986 as he believed the column promoted racial hatred. The letter was co-signed by the Society of Black Lawyers,
Operation Black Vote and Bandung Africa, as well as
Lee Jasper, Viv Ahmun,
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, and
Claudia Webbe. On 19 December, Clarkson stated he was "horrified to have caused so much hurt" over his comments, which were also criticised by his daughter Emily and co-star James May. On 23 December,
The Sun issued an apology, stating "columnists' opinions are their own" but they "regret the publication of this article" and are "sincerely sorry". On the following day, a spokesperson for the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex described the apology as "nothing more than a PR stunt" and added that the publication had not contacted Meghan to personally apologise which "shows their intent". In an
Instagram post on 16 January 2023, Clarkson said that he had emailed the Duke and Duchess on Christmas Day 2022 to apologise, saying that his language had been "disgraceful" and he was "profoundly sorry". however, this report proved to be inaccuarate, as ''
Clarkson's Farm'' was later renewed for a fourth season to be broadcast in 2025. In February 2023, IPSO announced that it was launching an investigation about the article, specifically taking forward two groups of complaints, from the
Fawcett Society and the Wilde Foundation, which claimed "they were affected by breaches in accuracy, harassment and discrimination." In June 2023, IPSO concluded that the column was sexist and contained a "pejorative and prejudicial reference" to Meghan's sex, but it rejected complaints that the piece was inaccurate, meant to harass her or included discriminatory references on the grounds of race. ==Personal life==