I canāt figure out anyone who defends him. Heās a guy on TV who hit someone behind the camera, a producer at that, over craft services. Yes, hours on set are long and tiring and you just sometimes want something that you didnāt get, so you go back to your paid-for hotel and use your per diem and deal with it. Should he have been fired? Not if it was a first offense (offence), but this sounds like the last event in a long list.
Are his skills that amazingly unique that nobody else on earth is willing to take a paycheck (paycheque) to drive around in rare and interesting cars and joke around with your friends at the same time?
I believe that a lot of people are misunderstanding the ādefendersā of Clarkson. I am not defending him at all, but I really enjoy TG and would have liked to see it remain. I believe the BBC acted very incompetently here, cutting off their nose to spite their face.
As it stands, the outcome is that Clarkson has hardly been punished as he will walk into a higher paid job with no problem at all. I would expect the other hosts to join him on Sky or Netflix, making an almost identical show.
Tymon no longer has a show to work on as TG is now effectively dead in the water, so he gets nothing out of it.
The BBC lose a highly profitable show and have to pay millions to the channels that were expecting the remaining shows, wasting the money we paid in the licence fee.
The viewers lose out as they donāt get to see the shows that have already been made, but have now been binned in a fit of BBC petulance, further wasting the licence fee.
I think it should have been turned over to the law - Clarkson would have been found guilty of an assault and punished by the Crown.
Possibly even incarcerated for a few months, hopefully learning the lesson that his actions can have unpleasant consequences.
The BBC could have suspended him and docked his pay, and in the process Tymon could have been compensated.
The BBC would still have a moneyspinning show on their schedules,
Tymon would still have a job,
Our money wouldnāt have been wasted.
The viewers would still get their show to watch.
Clarkson would have been punished.
In the BBC solution Clarkson is the only winner, and there are lots of losers. In mine, Clarkson is the loser and everyone else wins.
How about the petition to give the job to Alan Partridge? (33.5k signatures so far.)
If he even did the odd segment for them, it would be hilarious.
Yeah, he actually lost me when he mocked Argentinian vets of the 1982 war.
Fuckwit.
Might be nice to have someone with at least a 20th century worldview, Clarkson seems to be a holdover from the times of Empire.
I suspect someone in their 20s or 30s will make a great junior member, and it seems fairly obvious his co-hosts will not miss him much. (whatever posturing to the contrary was made by the co-hosts during the debacle)
I donāt see why TG canāt continue with May and Hammond as a double act, or with a new third. I find the show (and Clarkson, TBH) entertaining, but his behavior is beyond the pale at this point.
Just how does that work? Did the BBC say āthanks, but noā¦weāve got this one.ā
If JC is analogous with the āauthoritarian and snobbish Cyril Blamireā - which seems entirely reasonable, then Iād imagine theyāre going to have to get the motoring equivalent of Brian Wilde.
I donāt know why the law didnāt deal with it. Any other assault they would have done. Iām frankly baffled.
I get your point here, and it makes sense. However, I donāt think the Clarkson (or TG) qualifies as ātoo big to failā. I too enjoy TG, but it is really hard to argue against BBCās stance here. Clarksonās no saint and the BBC folks knew that they were in a very risky position by having a loose cannon host one of their most popular and profitable shows. Heās been a liability for a really long time and now the charade is over. Clarkson wins indeed, he was in a very comfortable position (heās a millionaire and can move to the competition with his new show, Gop Tear) and the BBC was in a very precarious one, putting a lot of their chips on a very risky bet. And, at the end of the day, most people would get sacked for punching a co-worker in the face.
I donāt disagree, but how has he been punished with this outcome? Who wins, who loses? I am arguing that a different approach might have been better, with a fairer, more just, outcome to everyone.
I was thinking: JC and the cod bobbers
North Yorkshire police are now looking into it. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11480416/Jeremy-Clarkson-to-be-sacked-by-BBC-live.html
I loved Top Gear, and Clarkson is an ass. I hope they get 3 new folk in to goof off in cars.
Sure, but I tend to think of this as more of a statement than a punishment. Itās the BBC saying that his behavior is unacceptable and that a publicly-funded company cannot support his actions.
Let me tell you what is going on here:
[During the Cool Wall, talking about the Koenigsegg CCX.]
Jeremy: If you go though the Pearly Gates, backwards, in a fireball, thatās a cool way to die!
Richard: I love that vision of just blasting through the gates, backwards, in a flaming Swedish supercar! āYes! Iām here! Where are the women?ā
This is the Koenigsegg CCX of flameouts. This is because they knew no other way to retire. One billon fans are a force that is something to fear.
Honestly? He is good at what he does, but TG could (and should) have done all the good stuff it does without the racism, misogyny etc. and be much better. Bunch of public schoolboys tittering about the naughty jokes they got away with. No matter who you are, punching a coworker should get you fired - and he isnāt even getting fired, his contract isnāt being renewed. If he takes the TG format to ITV or Sky itāll die on its ass, and the advertisers wonāt let cars be criticized, either.
Also, Clarksonās āMan of the Peopleā schtick is as much bullshit as Farageās. Chipping Norton set, buddies with Dave Cameron, Rebekah Brookes and Alex James, Repton educated.
And all 3 of them are well aware that it was Last of the Summer Wine. Theyāve run out of ideas, just knock it on the head for a bit, take a few years off, come back with a new idea. Donāt hire Chris Evans or Jodie Kidd and carry on, just give it a rest.
Are you assuming that this might not still happen? I see no reason to jump to your conclusion.
What have the other two done?
I am not of the mind that collective punishment is much better than an assault. Punish the guilty.
Yeah, I also still dont understand. The guy cannot be allowed to keep his job just because people like the way things were.
Does Clarkson have some right to the show that the BBC cannot continue with it?
I can understand being dissappointed by how it all works out in the end, but dont forget this all falls at the feet of Clarkson. If he does return to TV, it will only happen because people have accepted the excuses for his behavior and shifted blame to the BBC, the producers, etc.
But go ahead and color me stupid- I dont feel like anyone should support the asshole Christian Bale either, but they do.
Again, I donāt especially disagree, but I donāt think we should be happy that a publicly funded body has wasted millions of the money we gave it, either.
