The BBC Apologise For Jeremy Clarkson...

[mosaix]

The BBC issued an apology for people who may have been offended by his comments on The One Show last night.

Apparently he said that 'the striking public sector workers should be shot, executed in front of their families', and that they had 'guilt egded pensions, whilst the rest of us had to work for a living'.

Those aren't the exact words but pretty close.

I find it bizzare that a guy who:

1) Earns more in a couple of months than a public sector worker gets in a lifetime of pension payments should feel the need to call into question the value of their pensions, let alone that he thinks they should be shot for striking to defend them.

and

2) Fronts a program that is slightly less intellectually stimulating than Play School should describe what he does as 'work' and try to compare it favourably to the real work done by millions in the public sector, who contribute to his inflated salary through their TV licence fee.

On the way back from visiting my mother I stopped at a road side cafe for a bite of lunch. They played the clip on the radio followed by some guy defending what he said as 'a joke'. There was no laughing in the cafe, just some guy saying "he's only saying what the rest of us are thinking".

[Moonbat]

Clarkson is a very opinionated man, but I think what he said was in jest.
I have watched the clip (of the one show) and the crew are laughing as he says it, so it is clearly meant as a joke and not some effort to incite hatred.

From the Guardian

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: "Clarkson's comments on the One Show were totally outrageous, and they cannot be tolerated. We are seeking urgent legal advice about what further action we can take against him and the BBC, and whether or not his comments should be referred to the police.

Now, this is going a bit far isn't it. They want to see what further action they can take against him, that sounds like they are looking to sue, and get money, probably to add it to their pensions.

Personally I am not in favour of the strike, it seems to me that they are essentially striking because the government broke a promise, well that has got to be a first, a government breaking a promise, who ever heard of such a thing.

[alchemist]

Normally I take what Jeremy says with a pinch of salt. Most of it is designed to wind people up. This time,though , I think he's gone too far. i wasn't on strike but most of my work colleagues were (different unions) and I can't see how him suggesting they should be executed in front of their families is a joke. Obviously he didn't mean it literally but it was still pretty insulting. Hopefully the next time he ends up in A/E after a Lamborghini crash, or his ego gets caught in a revolving door, the staff will point out that if they had been executed, he would have just died.

Originally Posted by Moonbat

Personally I am not in favour of the strike, it seems to me that they are essentially striking because the government broke a promise, well that has got to be a first, a government breaking a promise, who ever heard of such a thing.

But if everyone took this attitude, the government could do whatever they liked. Just because governments lie all the time, it doesn't mean they shouldn't be challenged.

[AnyaKimlin]

Well personally I do think the BBC should apologise for wasting our licence fee on Jeremy Clarkson -- think he is an arse that wouldn't know a real days work it slapped his backside with a kipper. However I get fed up when people's freedom of speech is eroded - that is part of the same freedom that is allowing the people who want to strike, strike. What he said was stupid - I don't know the context or how serious it was, but I highly doubt it will have been intended to be taken seriously. I think the BBC should basically apologise for Jeremy Clarkson, but not for what he says -- that he should be entitled to.

[Dave]

Surely, his mother and father should do that....

[AnyaKimlin]

Originally Posted by Dave

Surely, his mother and father should do that....

Hmm ... they do have a lot to answer for ... BUT As far as I am aware they are not using my licence fee to pay him stupid wages to pontificate about cars. Given I am not a driver it makes him even more useless than he maybe to others. How much does he get from your channel for endless reruns ?

I do wonder about the BBC sometimes ... However probably wouldn't be without em either.

[Ursa major]

The Guardian have (or had this afternoon) the clip with offending passages in it. Unfortunately (it surely couldn't be deliberate ), it was a truncated version of what I heard on a BBC news programme (The World at One, I think), in that they missed the intro. From what I could tell, Clarkson had said that he'd not noticed any adverse effects (on him, I assume) of the strike, but to give a bit of balance (or words vaguely to that effect), he would say that.... And then he spouted the stuff we've been hearing since yesterday.

Even not allowing for the usual** Clarkson hyperbole (which I know isn't to everyone's taste, to put it mildly), it's clear from the whole thing that it isn't meant to be taken at all seriously. If anything, Mr Prentis should be complaining about the first part of the piece, Clarkson's dismissal of the strike as having any impact at all.



EDIT: This link provides a transcript of the complete version: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15993558.




** - To be fair, hyperbole seems to be Clarkson's one and only comic string, on which he plays incessantly.

[Interference]

Not sure, but I think Clarkson says these things to get noticed. He probably wet his bed as a teenager, too....

[Ursa major]

I understand that he has another DVD coming out. (It may or may not be the same one as the Top Gear at the Movies.)

[Interference]

Well, obviously, what other reason would he have for doing The One Show?

[mosaix]

Apparently later on the same program he also said:

“I do sometimes use the train to come to London but it always stops in Reading. It’s always because somebody has jumped in front of it and somebody has burst. You just think, why have we stopped because we’ve hit somebody? What’s the point of stopping? It won’t make them better.”

The thing is that if established comedians came out with these things they could probably get away with it because they're saying it for a laugh, not because they really mean it - it's their job and you can take it or leave on that basis.

However, Clarkson describes himself and a broadcaster, journalist and writer. The impression given by the man is that somewhere deep down he actually beleives these things.

[Ursa major]

There are two ways one can think of Clarkson, as a comedian or as a joke, depending on one's point of view. To treat him as being serious...? That way lies madness.

(Whether he believes anything he says is moot. We have no way of telling, as he always seems to be 'in character' when near a microphone or wordprocessor.)

[The Ace]

Having lost two days' holiday waiting in for a council plumber (who didn't turn up either day and took three visits to fix the problem when he eventually got off his a**e) and having known people to wait months for 'Essential,' repairs from council tradesmen, I can understand why people get angry.

The fact is, that apart from Hospital staff and ambulance drivers, it can be difficult to tell the difference between strike action and normal activity for many public sector workers.

[AnyaKimlin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15993558

Here's the transcript - it's obvious it was intended as a joke, at the expense of the BBC more than the strikers.

[Ökuþórr]

I watched the episode live, and as folks have said above, he was joking/intentionally trying to wind people up.
I think I heard on the news that they apologized because they got about five thousand complaints. The One Show gets a few million viewers. I always wonder why they roll out the apologies and condemnations when so few (compared to the actual number of viewers) complain or even care.