Top Gear's Clarkson suspended by BBC

[El Presidente]

Like I say, people want their pound of flesh, and now they've got it. I'm not defending Clarkson, he has been a colossal bellend (again) and only has himself to blame for how this turned out. But I still think its something that could have been resolved without it involving sackings and cancellations.
That's just my opinion on it.

I'm inclined to agree. Clarkson is not my cup of tea, I watch Top Gear occasionally but suspect in it he's playing a role that appeals to others, and I don't think it reflects on his personal views (he was far better on Meet the Neighbours, when he was setting himself up).

He's worked with the other bloke for 10 years, has acted appallingly, but there was a window to resolve the matter, if that was agreeable to both sides. My experience of the BBC, which is fairly limited, is that it's a fairly laid back and tolerant place, but he does have a number of people there in senior management who would love it ((c) Kevin Keegan) if he was booted out, and he gave them enough rope for them to hang him.

 

[marshy68]

I'm not defending anyone just looking at the facts or what we have been told. My mrs works in a well known high st store punch up between two colleagues not one sacking.

I work in the head office at M&S - if anyone twated anyone they would be sacked and escorted from the building. Find it amazing that this wouldnt happen in most work places. I am not anti clarkson, I think he is a bit of a dinosaur, but I quite like top gear, but really punching people you work with is frankly idiotic. He can have expected nothing less than being suspended then fired or not having his contract renewed. The outpouring of grief and support for him really is beyond me.

 

[Easy 10]

Sorry Easy, but I'm a bit confused here. You seem to be contradicting yourself here, unless I've misinterpreted what you're saying.

What it boils down to is that I can see perfectly well why the BBC did what they did in sacking Clarkson. I'm not saying that they made the *wrong* decision in doing that, because what Clarkson did was idiotic, unjustifiable, and a sackable offence in any walk of life. But equally, if the will was there, then they could still have mediated between Clarkson and the producer with a view to resolving it internally without the sacking, and without (effectively) binning off Top Gear over this incident. If the producer was prepared to accept an apology (if), then surely they could have put this behind them and continued with their jobs. But that's not what the BBC wanted, so we are where we are and Top Gear is over.

Again, if you switch the two individuals involved, you reckon Clarkson would carry on working with a producer who had verbally and physically abused him, on the basis that the producer had apologised, regardless of how sincerely? Not a chance in hell.

Again, its all hypotheticals, switching things round, making different scenarios. Who knows ? Doesn't matter, that's not what happened is it.

As for Clarkson - he had form and he was on a final warning. My theory? He knew EXACTLY what he was doing, and has been a part of this "media feeding frenzy" to leave TG on a 'high' in terms of his public profile, and move onto another show on another channel.

But then I'm a MASSIVE cynic...

So you're saying he encountered that lack of a steak dinner on his return to the hotel that night and thought "Hmmm...d'ya know what ? I can engineer something here. I think I'll go and punch the producer over this, that'll kick up a huge media frenzy and force the BBC to sack me, ending Top Gear forever. Then I'll leave and look like a HERO to my viewers, and the BBC will look EVIL".


Mmmnah. Not for me.

 

[symyjym]

Like I say, people want their pound of flesh, and now they've got it. I'm not defending Clarkson, he has been a colossal bellend (again) and only has himself to blame for how this turned out. But I still think its something that could have been resolved without it involving sackings and cancellations.
That's just my opinion on it.

Yep, it's not like it was because of years of sexually abusing his staff. It sounds more like handbags to me.

 

[jakarta]

Imagine his next job interview....." Tell me Mr Clarkson, why did you leave your last job ? " " Er, I was sacked for hitting a fellow employee after a string of minor disciplinary issues " "

Unfortunately the next job interview the Millionaire Jeremy Clarkson will have will be with his old Mucker and Multi-Millionaire Rupert Murdoch and it will concern a Motoring Programme on Sky One so I don't think his being 'sacked' by the BBC will matter too much....

 

[vegster]

Unfortunately the next job interview the Millionaire Jeremy Clarkson will have will be with his old Mucker and Multi-Millionaire Rupert Murdoch and it will concern a Motoring Programme on Sky One so I don't think his being 'sacked' by the BBC will matter too much....

Indeed it won't as where there is a buck to made morality soon goes out the window. For the likes of you and me what happened would probably make us unemployable unless we were flipping burgers.

 

[Bold Seagull]

What it boils down to is that I can see perfectly well why the BBC did what they did in sacking Clarkson. I'm not saying that they made the *wrong* decision in doing that, because what Clarkson did was idiotic, unjustifiable, and a sackable offence in any walk of life. But equally, if the will was there, then they could still have mediated between Clarkson and the producer with a view to resolving it internally without the sacking, and without (effectively) binning off Top Gear over this incident. If the producer was prepared to accept an apology (if), then surely they could have put this behind them and continued with their jobs. But that's not what the BBC wanted, so we are where we are and Top Gear is over.

You mean the 'will' to act in such a way as to say the same rules don't apply if you happen to be a top star in a successful show? That's served them well in the past hasn't it...

BBC have got it spot on. They've treated Clarkson as any other employee, and so they should. Celebrity and success shouldn't make you exempt from the same rules that apply to everyone else in the corporation. Completely unprofessional and presumably the dignity and silence from the producer is the only reason Clarkson hasn't been charged formally with assault.

I think Top Gear will be fine. When the BBC dropped Jonathan Ross, the same thing was said they'd lost their flagship talk show, only for Graham Norton to do even better. Quite looking forward to a revamped show hopefully.

 

[Easy 10]

You mean the 'will' to act in such a way as to say the same rules don't apply if you happen to be a top star in a successful show? That's served them well in the past hasn't it...

BBC have got it spot on. They've treated Clarkson as any other employee, and so they should. Celebrity and success shouldn't make you exempt from the same rules that apply to everyone else in the corporation. Completely unprofessional and presumably the dignity and silence from the producer is the only reason Clarkson hasn't been charged formally with assault.

I think Top Gear will be fine. When the BBC dropped Jonathan Ross, the same thing was said they'd lost their flagship talk show, only for Graham Norton to do even better. Quite looking forward to a revamped show hopefully.

If you hit someone at work you can certainly expect to be sacked, and can have no complaints whatsoever if that's what happens. But a sacking is not automatic or mandatory, its still a choice, a decision to arrive at. If the producer was prepared to accept a full and sincere apology then I think the BBC could have decided on a different outcome that did not involve a sacking and the cancellation of Top Gear. They decided not to, which was their right, but not (IMO) their obligation.

Putting this scuffle in the same bracket as turning a blind eye to decades of systematic sexual abuse, paedophilia and rape is another example of dragging this incident WAY beyond the bounds of its own context to try and make a point.

 

[Bold Seagull]

If you hit someone at work you can certainly expect to be sacked, and can have no complaints whatsoever if that's what happens. But a sacking is not automatic or mandatory, its still a choice, a decision to arrive at. If the producer was prepared to accept a full and sincere apology then I think the BBC could have decided on a different outcome that did not involve a sacking and the cancellation of Top Gear. They decided not to, which was their right, but not (IMO) their obligation.

Putting this scuffle in the same bracket as turning a blind eye to decades of systematic paedophilia and rape is another example of dragging this thing WAY beyond the bounds of its own context to try and make a point.

How do you know the producer didn't accept the apology? What is clear is that as an employer, they weren't prepared to accept this behaviour in, let us not forget, a public place from an employee regardless whether the producer still wanted to be best buddies with JC. This wasn't some in office scuffle, this was in a hotel in view of guests and everyone else who was about.

As for putting this scuffle in the same bracket - don't be pathetic, you've just done that yourself. It's a perfectly valid point to say you shouldn't treat celebrities in any different way to any other employee. Historically they have done that with a variety of different situations. You've just chosen to jump on an obvious one because it was the easiest way for you to try to counter the point.

 

[TomandJerry]

Jeremy Clarkson has told his critics that creating a rival to Top Gear “isn’t hard”, in what is almost certainly his last column for the BBC show’s monthly magazine.

Clarkson, who was told by the BBC on Thursday that his contract will not be renewed when it expires next week, used the column to challenge viewers who criticise the show to go and create a rival.

He said that unlike the glut of, say, food-related shows the market for TV motoring series is wide open.

“You have Jamie and Heston and Marco and Delia, and there’s that cake thing on the television,” he said. “Recipes are everywhere. It’s different with cars. You have Top Gear and Fifth Gear and Chris Harris and, er, that’s it. So, in order to shine, all you have to be is better than Captain Slow, a midget, a pensioner, an orangutan and a monkey. Which isn’t hard.”

 

[Easy 10]

How do you know the producer didn't accept the apology? What is clear is that as an employer, they weren't prepared to accept this behaviour in, let us not forget, a public place from an employee regardless whether the producer still wanted to be best buddies with JC. This wasn't some in office scuffle, this was in a hotel in view of guests and everyone else who was about.

As for putting this scuffle in the same bracket - don't be pathetic, you've just done that yourself. It's a perfectly valid point to say you shouldn't treat celebrities in any different way to any other employee. Historically they have done that with a variety of different situations. You've just chosen to jump on an obvious one because it was the easiest way for you to try to counter the point.

Hang on...You're the one who said

You mean the 'will' to act in such a way as to say the same rules don't apply if you happen to be a top star in a successful show? That's served them well in the past hasn't it...

Are you seriously saying that you were NOT obliquely referring to the sex abuse scandals that were allowed to fester unchecked at the BBC because of the stardom and success of the perpetrators ? Come on...(to use your own dot-dot-dot).

As for the rest of your point, it was undeniably an ugly incident but unless I've missed something in the reporting, none of us know exactly how it played out, how many were there or who witnessed it. And I've not said it wasn't a serious incident, just that it didn't necessarily need to be an automatic sacking and cancellation of the series. Flogging the same point to death though, so its another agree-to-disagree I guess.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Hang on...You're the one who said



Are you seriously saying that you were NOT obliquely referring to the sex abuse scandals that were allowed to fester unchecked at the BBC because of the stardom and success of the perpetrators ? Come on...(to use your own dot-dot-dot).

As for the rest of your point, it was undeniably an ugly incident but unless I've missed something in the reporting, none of us know exactly how it played out, how many were there or who witnessed it. And I've not said it wasn't a serious incident, just that it didn't necessarily need to be an automatic sacking and cancellation of the series. Flogging the same point to death though, so its another agree-to-disagree I guess.

I'm seriously saying that by leaving it open, I've left the door ajar for you to take the easy option of comparing the offences rather than point of whether it is a question of treating celebrity and success differently. You took the easy door and tried to make some point scoring out of it. The comparison of the offences is irrelevant to a discussion about treating people equally.

So anyway, it is a none story isn't it? Man hits fellow employee and continues with verbal abuse in a public place, man then gets sacked. There isn't a lot more to it. As you yourself have said, pretty much as you'd expect, unless as you've said, you need to make a special case because its a good show.

 

[TomandJerry]

Oisin Tymon, the Top Gear producer physically and verbally attacked by Jeremy Clarkson, has told police he does not want to press charges.

The 36-year-old suffered swelling and bleeding to his lip in the altercation, which took place after a day's filming in Yorkshire.

He was also subjected to a prolonged verbal tirade and drove himself to hospital believing he had lost his job.

 

[TomandJerry]

Jeremy Clarkson is set to make his first appearance on the BBC since losing his job as co-presenter on Top Gear.

The controversial broadcaster will appear as the guest host of Have I Got News for You on 24 April.

"Jeremy's contract has not been renewed on Top Gear but he isn't banned from appearing on the BBC," a BBC spokesman said.

Clarkson has hosted the satirical news quiz on numerous occasions.

During one appearance in 2008, he threw a pen at regular panellist Ian Hislop that left the latter with a cut on his face.

Clarkson was suspended by the BBC on 10 March following a "fracas" with Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon in a hotel in North Yorkshire.
Mr Tymon suffered swelling and a split lip in the assault on 4 March and visited a hospital A&E department for his injuries.
Following an internal investigation, the BBC announced on 25 March Clarkson's contract on Top Gear would not be renewed.

 

[drew]

Jeremy Clarkson is set to make his first appearance on the BBC since losing his job as co-presenter on Top Gear.

The controversial broadcaster will appear as the guest host of Have I Got News for You on 24 April.

"Jeremy's contract has not been renewed on Top Gear but he isn't banned from appearing on the BBC," a BBC spokesman said.

Clarkson has hosted the satirical news quiz on numerous occasions.

During one appearance in 2008, he threw a pen at regular panellist Ian Hislop that left the latter with a cut on his face.

Clarkson was suspended by the BBC on 10 March following a "fracas" with Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon in a hotel in North Yorkshire.
Mr Tymon suffered swelling and a split lip in the assault on 4 March and visited a hospital A&E department for his injuries.
Following an internal investigation, the BBC announced on 25 March Clarkson's contract on Top Gear would not be renewed.

Aren't you going to add your own comment?

 

[TomandJerry]

Aren't you going to add your own comment?

Well the BBC couldn't really get rid of him unless they wanted to lose alot of money which is why they kept him to do other shows

 

[jimbob5]

Well the BBC couldn't really get rid of him unless they wanted to lose alot of money which is why they kept him to do other shows

Not saying he's not talented at doing Clarkson type stuff but aren't HIGNFY bods being a tad 2 faced; or is Angus's financial dispute with an escort woman a worse crime than JC smacking a subordinate in the mouth for no justified reason.

 

[Everest]

Not saying he's not talented at doing Clarkson type stuff but aren't HIGNFY bods being a tad 2 faced; or is Angus's financial dispute with an escort woman a worse crime than JC smacking a subordinate in the mouth for no justified reason.

It was also to do with cocaine use (Deayton that is, not Clarkson)

 

[jimbob5]

OK, strictly the personal use of cocaine in not a victimless crime but come off it. COME OFF IT!

 

[jimbob5]

It was also to do with cocaine use (Deayton that is, not Clarkson)

The personal use of cocaine is strictly speaking not a victimless crime, but, COME OFF IT, COME OFF IT!