BBC suspends Clarkson after ‘ fracas’ with colleague
The BBC is refusing to discuss whether Top Gear will ever return to television after Jeremy Clarkson was suspended over a “fracas” with a colleague and the rest of the current series was pulled from the schedules.
Clarkson, 54, is reported to have tried to punch a male producer of the BBC Two show last week. The incident was reported to the corporation only on Monday, resulting in his suspension Tuesday.
Filming for this Sunday’s episode, which should have taken place Wednesday, was cancelled and no more episodes will be broadcast while an investigation is carried out.
If the complaint against Clarkson is upheld, the BBC will have little choice but to sack him — last year he was given a final warning after his use of the n- word.
It was one of many racist and xenophobic comments over the years, and critics had complained that Clarkson was being given special treatment by the BBC because of the immense profitability of Top Gear, which is sold to 214 territories and is the most popular factual television program in the world.
A BBC spokesman said: “Follow- ing a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation. No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time.”
Clarkson refused to comment on the incident as he arrived at his London home Tuesday, and there was no comment from his co- presenters, James May and Richard Hammond.
The BBC is understood to have banned all staff from talking about the incident, which involves a complaint from another member of staff and could result in a grievance procedure.
Although the BBC owns the format of Top Gear after buying the rights from Clarkson and his executive producer Andy Wilman in 2012, the presenter is the undoubted star and it is unclear whether Hammond and May would carry on without him if he were to be fired.
Within minutes of news of his suspension breaking, fans had started an online petition to have Clarkson reinstated. More than 10,000 people signed the petition in the first three hours.
This Sunday ’s episode should have featured Gary Lineker, but the football presenter and studio audience with tickets for filming at Top Gear’s base at Dunsfold Aero- drome in Surrey were told yesterday that they would not be needed.
Clarkson has been a fixture on Top Gear since 1988, but it was following the BBC’s relaunch of the show in 2002 that he transformed himself into a worldwide star.
But controversy has never been far away. Last year alone, he was forced to apologize after mumbling the n- word as he recited a nursery rhyme during filming. He was found to have breached broadcast guidelines after referring to an Asian man as a “slope.” And he caused offence in Argentina by driving a Porsche with a licence plate that appeared to refer to the Falklands War.
He said last year: “I’ve been told by the BBC that if I make one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time, I will be ( fired).”
Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the BBC director- general, was said to have intervened to save Clarkson after the n- word fight. But Danny Cohen, the BBC’s head of television, has previously insisted Clarkson was not too valuable to fire, claiming: “It’s like football clubs: No one is bigger than the club.”