The news broke and no one was surprised; Top Gear is going to continue entertaining millions of people for at least the 3 more years. However, this seemed like a good chance for certain British outlets to revive their war on the show and particularly its front man, Jeremy Clarkson.
Whether you are a fan or a hater, Top Gear has always been what I believe a window between the petrolhead community and the rest of the world.
Since its re-launch in 2002, Top Gear found the recipe to get normal people in front of their TV screens in order to show them supercars chewing their tyres with no mercy, truly epic road trips, hilarious and sometimes naughty sense of humour blended with many, many explosions.
This recipe is responsible for the show’s huge success and people love it because it delivers its main promise, which is pure, unfiltered entertainment. It’s the only common topic for discussion if a normal person wants to talk cars with you.
“Top Gear has always been a window between the petrolhead community and the rest of the world”
A significant portion of the petrolhead community also criticizes Top Gear because they believe that having a scripted scenario for the show’s so-called challenges or reviews or everything on it, is a direct hit under the belt for all the purists, proclaiming that they are fed up with the “garbage”, “fake”, “useless” results of anything challenged or reviewed or exploded in it.
Since it’s a TV show that must deliver its main purpose -entertainment- and wants to continue and/or increase its success on the platform it’s in, a scripted scenario is I’m afraid pretty much unavoidable. But that’s the beauty of the show; Top Gear has never pretended to be a clean-cut, conservative car show that delivers strict, objective reviews of the latest models. If you want your motoring show dry and well balanced, there are plenty of them out there, pick one and stop whining.
Jeremy Clarkson is no stranger to receiving complaints but over the last year found himself in the middle of a poop storm, after using the what-appears-to-be racial ‘slope’ term when supposedly was describing a bridge the same time a local Asian construction worker was crossing it. This caused not only outrage by some British outlets but a lawsuit too. Top Gear producer Andy Wilman said back then that this was “a light-hearted wordplay joke”. At that point, I was asking my innocent self. ‘what is wrong with these people, how can they be so offended by a show known for displaying almost no political correctness, but it is also known for saying terrible things about Mexicans, Americans, Germans, French, Romanians, Albanians and the list goes on’. Was it hypocrisy or just the chance to get some free publicity from the most successful TV car show?
“What is wrong with these people, how can they be so offended by a show known for displaying almost no political correctness”
Shortly after, video footage of Clarkson obtained by The Mirror showed the Top Gear presenter mumbling the N-word in a counting rhyme, forcing him to release a video response with his explanation of the incident and begging for forgiveness. Watching the video and listening really carefully to Clarkson’s mumbling felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. He said it, but the context was so not racist. It was part of a childish rhyme and he wasn’t referring to anyone when saying it, not to mention that the footage was never aired.
“The footage with the N-word mumbling was never aired”
James May tweeted back then: “He is a monumental bellend and many other things, but not a racist. I wouldn’t work with one. #ThatIsAll”. Richard Hammond also tweeted: “2nd May’s comment re Clarkson. I can list a million things wrong with him, but he is absolutely not racist. An idiot, yes.”
Somewhere around here, things started to blow out of proportion. Certain press outlets demanded Clarkson’s head on a silver platter this time and even politicians commented on the matter with UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s official spokesman saying : “The usage of that word, that would be quite wrong.” Clarkson himself said that he was warned by the BBC that if he makes one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time, he will be sacked. End of story guys, moving on.
“Clarkson was warned by the BBC that if he makes one more offensive remark, he will be sacked”
Not quite really. Top Gear went to Argentina for its Christmas special where some Falklands veterans didn’t quite like the presence of the crew there; especially when the Porsche Clarkson was driving had a plate reading ‘H982 FKL’, an obvious reference to the 1982 Falklands War. The crew was chased out of Argentina with some members even injured and the ambassador of Argentina formally complaining to the BBC Trust. This was not the first time an ambassador complains about the show.
Andy Wilman, executive producer of Top Gear, said that the number plate was not an intentional reference to the Falkslands War (of course it wasn’t!) but admitted that last year was a horrible one for the show. He also said that “the last series was monster for viewing figures; it was about 10m a week when you count iPlayer and things like that.”
“For a moment I thought I was reading a piece against a show that explains the benefits of human-trafficking, not a silly, entertaining, to-be-taken-with-a-pinch-of-salt motoring show”
The articles about how and why Top Gear is still alive have started flowing around in a rather ungraceful way, giving me a good laugh again. Their hard rhetoric combined with hatred and a sense of self-righteousness was so strong that for a moment I thought I was reading a piece against a show that explains the benefits of human-trafficking, not a silly, entertaining, to-be-taken-with-a-pinch-of-salt motoring show. Mirror even features a poll, asking if they should renew Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear contract. A staggering 88% have answered yes when these lines were written.
“Should naughty humour be censored even if it’s not offending anyone?”
The whole situation reminds me the story of Sony Pictures releasing or not the blockbuster movie “The Interview”. North Korean hackers breeched into the files of Sony and threatened with terrorist attacks if the comedy movie showing their leader being killed by Americans is released to theatres. I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but the fundamentals are the same. Should naughty humour be censored even if it’s not offending anyone?
Top Gear’s huge success has surely attracted the attention of many who just want a piece of its glowing aura. Hell, I might be accused for doing the same…
By Michael Karkafiris
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