Cult of Jeremy Clarkson won’t be damaged by latest bust-up
USUALLY, online petitions are about social justice or the environment, but this week they are all about reinstating Jeremy Clarkson, the disgraced Top Gear television presenter who is more divisive than Marmite. He is loved by many, hated by many, many more, and now dumped by the BBC. The petition was started by the right-wing blogger, Paul Staines, and supported by people like Katie Hopkins.
As of Wednesday midday, according to Sky News, the petition had received 350,000 signatures. This seems like a large figure, but the population of the UK and Ireland is a combined 68.7m. At the time of writing, #BringBackClarkson was the main Twitter trend.
Clarkson — he likes being known by his surname, perhaps a nod to the schoolboy trapped in the body of an old man — has been suspended by the BBC because of a ‘fracas’. This is the BBC word for common assault — Clarkson allegedly attempted to punch a producer. He was already on a final warning for offensive behaviour. Top Gear won’t be showing this Sunday.
Straight away, the funny tweets began — comedian David Baddiel asked if Citroen were the makers of the Fracas. Clarkson responded to the episode by saying he was off for a pint until things had blown over.But he may finally be losing his job.
‘Hurrah’, say women, Mexicans, Asians, Indians, Argentinians, black people, cyclists, animals, lorry drivers, lesbians, Muslims, disabled people, public-sector workers, sex workers, environmentalists and Gordon Brown. Sorry if I have left anyone out. Oh yes, Piers Morgan. Clarkson has insulted them all. He has used the words ‘slope’ and ‘n****r’ on camera. He has suggested that what is important to lorry drivers is “murdering prostitutes”. And he suggested that Mexican people were “lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight.” He rants on air, and rants in print. He writes for Rupert Murdoch’s right-wing press, in the Sunday Times and The Sun.
None of the offense he caused ever did him any harm, even when he caused diplomatic incidents involving official apologies to the Mexican Embassy. This is because Clarkson is a cash cow for the BBC. He has a serious fan base of a certain kind of blokey bloke — a strain of white petrol-head who loves how the presenter can cross the line from blokey banter into eye-popping offensiveness in a way that ordinary blokey blokes never could, at least not without consequence.
Clarkson, who has until now lived without consequence or accountability for his pronouncements, says what racist, sexist, xenophobic people — mostly men — would like to say, but don’t have the platform, or the audience, or the budget. He uses the classic defence of accusing his detractors of lacking humour/being politically correct/uptight/left-wing. He achieved this platform because he speaks the native tongue of blokey blokes — that is, he speaks fluent car.
Top Gear used to be like the Antiques Road Show for motor vehicles – a bit staid, a bit dull. With his beta-male sidekicks, James May and Richard Hammond (neither of whom go just by their surnames), he transformed the car programme into bloketastic, ranty entertainment. So far so good, if driving cars for reasons other than to get from A to B is your thing. The cult of his personality was the series’ engine, driving it forward from mere test drives to full blown international forays, a reality show for a certain type of man to counteract feminised stuff like the Great British Bake Off. Fair enough. Nothing like gender polarisation to get the ratings up.
And then, drunk on his own gobby ego, Clarkson began a slow-motion car crash that has culminated in his suspension from the very show that made his name. This follows a life-long pattern of crashing and burning, first from a minor public school (he was expelled), then at a local Yorkshire newspaper, which he also left after “a never-ending stream of trouble.” He took an injunction against his first wife, to ban her from speaking publicly about their relationship after she left him, and was later divorced by his second wife, because of his serial cheating.
So should the BBC reinstate Jeremy Clarkson, given that 350,000 people have signed a petition? Or did he finally sign his own severance letter by adding physical violence to his repertoire, as well as verbal abuse?
Clarkson is toxic. But in the interests of non-censorship, perhaps he should be treated like porn — available to those who want him, behind a paywall. Where he belongs. Sky, ITV: they’re already desperately pursuing him.
With Top Gear presenter,Jeremy Clarkson, back in the headlines again, here are a few facts about the mega British television series
Top Gear is the Guinness Book of Records holder for most watched factual programme in the world. It has an estimated global audience of 350 million, and is sold to 214 countries.
The show has three million YouTube subscribers, 15 million Facebook fans, and 1.74 million Twitter followers.
Top Gear Magazine has a global circulation of 1.67 million, four million people use its website every month, and its live shows have attracted 1.5 million visitors.
It was first broadcast in its current format in 2002, and has run for 22 series.
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