Ebola’s not a joke, Jeremy
HIS new series has been greeted as a glorious comeback after an ignominious exit from the BBC.
But Jeremy Clarkson’s show The Grand Tour has brought with it the familiar whiff of controversy, thanks to a tasteless joke about ebola.
Clarkson dubbed a racetrack featured in his Amazon Prime series ‘the eboladrome’ because of its resemblance to a magnified image of the virus.
And the remark brought an immediate backlash from viewers startled by the former Top Gear star’s apparent insensitivity about a disease that killed 30,000 in West Africa two years ago.
In the first episode of the series, released on Friday, he introduces the track on a disused RAF airfield at Wroughton, Wiltshire, as ‘the most dangerous in the world’ because an unexploded bomb is buried underneath.
Clarkson then adds: ‘It even looks dangerous on a map, because as you can see it’s the exact same shape as the ebola virus.’ The track is then seen from above and shown next to an image of the virus – its curves mirroring the bends of the circuit, which is owned by the Science Museum.
Clarkson – who is reportedly paid £10million a year for hosting the show with Richard Hammond and James May – dubbed the track the eboladrome as he roared around it in a BMW M2.
And while The Grand Tour contained many ingredients that made Top Gear such a hit, some fans reacted with disbelief. One wrote on Twitter: ‘The Eboladrome… not sure how that would have gone over on The Beeb.’ At the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, at the forefront of the global fight against ebola, a source said: ‘It doesn’t sit well with me. It’s a very serious disease.’
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom said it would investigate if it received
complaints.