While (or perhaps I should say “whilst”) I have been in the midst of postseason basketball, a controversy has erupted across the pond, the London Evening Standard reports:
James May and Richard Hammond have turned down an offer to continue as presenters of Top Gear without their co-host Jeremy Clarkson.
The pair said they “didn’t want to do it without Jeremy” despite being given the chance to present the rest of the series while Clarkson is suspended, a BBC executive reportedly said.
Clarkson has been temporarily removed as presenter after allegedly punching producer Oisin Tymon during a row over a steak dinner on set.
It is believed both men have now both given their evidence to the BBC’s inquiry into the “fracas”.
A BBC spokesman refused to comment on any developments, saying: “As we said last week we have an investigation ongoing and we won’t comment further until that is concluded.”
The last episodes of the series have been postponed, causing the BBC to lose millions of viewers and receive thousands of complaints. Top Gear is estimated to earn the corporation about £300million annually. …
The trio are due to host four live Top Gear shows in Norway on March 27 and 28. Their BBC contracts are due to expire three days later, which could render any disciplinary hearings redundant.
A petition to reinstate Clarkson had today attracted about 970,000 supporters.
For those who haven’t seen the original: Clarkson is 6-foot-5 with a massive head, five years older than I am, not exactly photogenic, but opinionated, controversial and therefore funny. So was David E. Davis Jr., but he never did TV, and he seemed cultured enough to, for instance, not claim that truck drivers murder prostitutes as part of their daily schedule.
Imagine, if you will, a Wisconsin conservative saying this during the Act 10 debate:
The millionaire presenter caused outrage when he told shocked The One Show presenters striking public sector workers should be shot dead “in front of their families”.
He said: “I’d have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families. I mean how dare they go on strike when they’ve got these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed while the rest of us have to work for a living.”
I would have a hard time finding anyone in American media that was really comparable to Clarkson. And the list of controversies in which he’s been involved (insult an entire country?) makes it hard to imagine an American channel would take the unfiltered Clarkson. (Even though we have the First Amendment and Britain does not, these days Americans look for reasons to be offended.)
The U.S. version of Top Gear pales in comparison to the original, because the U.S. version doesn’t have Clarkson …
… and therefore the American version isn’t nearly as funny as the original:
Among other things, Clarkson doesn’t like Corvettes despite their amazing performance …
… or Americans generally:
For many years, I’ve argued that the heart of the average American motorist beats approximately once every 15 minutes. Technically, they’re in a coma.
But, sadly, this is wrong. Nowadays, the American motorist drives at the same speed we do, 80 or 85. And he’s the most aggressive creature on earth.
If you wish to change lanes on the freeway, because, say, your turn-off is approaching, you can indicate all you like, but no one will slow down to let you in. They won’t speed up, either. They’ll just sit there until you remember you’re in a rental car and make the move anyway. Then you’ll get a selection of hand gestures that you never knew existed.
I know of no country in the world where motorists are so intolerant of one another. The slightest mistake causes at the very least a great deal of horn blowing and, at worst, a three-second burst from some kind of powerful automatic weapon.
On the other hand, he also hates environmentalists and mass transit, so he’s got that going for him.
Clarkson has been blamed, believe it or don’t, for causing the demise of a car company, Rover. The always-accurate Wikipedia explains:
One of Clarkson’s most infamous dislikes was of the British car brand Rover, the last major British owned and built car manufacturer. This view stretched back to the company’s time as part of British Leyland. Describing the history of the company up to its last flagship model, the Rover 75, he paraphrased Winston Churchill and stated “Never in the field of human endeavour has so much been done, so badly, by so many,” citing issues with the rack and pinion steering system. In the latter years of the company Clarkson blamed the “uncool” brand image as being more of a hindrance to sales than any faults with the cars. On its demise, Clarkson stated “I cannot even get teary and emotional about the demise of the company itself – though I do feel sorry for the workforce.” …
Clarkson’s comments about Rover prompted workers to hang an “Anti-Clarkson Campaign” banner outside the defunct Longbridge plant in its last days.
Clarkson’s colleagues want him to say, including the current mysterious (as in head covered by a full-face motorcycle helmet) Stig:
‘The Stig’ has delivered a petition with nearly one million signatures to the BBC in a bid to get Clarkson reinstated following his ‘fracas’ with a producer.
Someone dressed as Top Gear’s tame racing driver caused scenes in London today by posing on top of a moving tank, as it took to the streets of Central London.
At the time of writing, the petition, set up by political blogger Guido Fawkes, is just over 8,000 signatures short of the one million mark.
It comes after Clarkson reportedly alleged that he’d been sacked, and told his charity gala audience that Top Gear used to be great, but ‘bosses had f***** it up’.
When I was an intern at WKOW-TV, there was a black-and-white photo of Bender and some other people at state. Bender wore a white turtleneck, a blazer, plaid polyester bell-bottoms, and white shoes. I wonder if channel 27 still has that photo.
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 