uk Top Gear to be investigated over Jeremy Clarkson's 'slope' comment

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Top Gear to be investigated over Jeremy Clarkson's 'slope' comment

 

Inquiry puts further pressure on beleaguered presenter after he receives a final warning from the BBC over N-word row

 

Jeremy Clarkson's controversial "slope" reference in an episode of BBC2's Top Gear is to be investigated by the media regulator in a move that is likely to heap further pressure on the beleaguered presenter.

 

Top Gear producer Andy Wilman has already expressed regret for any offence caused by the remark, made after Clarkson and co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May built a bridge over the River Kwai in the motoring show's Burma special broadcast in March.

 

As an Asian man was seen walking along the bridge, Clarkson said: "That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it." Hammond replied: "You're right, it's definitely higher on that side."

 

Media regulator Ofcom has launched a formal inquiry after it received two complaints about the broadcast on 16 March this year.

 

Clarkson said he has been given a final warning by the BBC following the most recent controversy to surround the show after he used the N-word in an outtake.

 

The presenter was forced to apologise last week, issuing a video "begging for forgiveness", following claims that he had used the word while he recited the nursery rhyme, Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe in a clip that was not used on the show.

 

Clarkson said in his Sun column on Saturday: "I've been told by the BBC that if I make one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time, I will be sacked.

 

"And even the angel Gabriel would struggle to survive with that hanging over his head. It's inevitable that one day, someone, somewhere will say that I've offended them, and that will be that."

 

Clarkson was reprimanded by BBC bosses after being summoned to a meeting with the director general, Tony Hall, and the BBC's director of television Danny Cohen.

 

It was the latest in a long line of controversies surrounding the show and its best-known presenter.

 

The "slope" remark was initially picked up by actor Somi Guha, who instructed lawyers to make a formal complaint.

 

In a statement, Wilman responded: "When we used the word "slope" in the recent Top Gear Burma special it was a light-hearted wordplay joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing it.

 

"We were not aware at the time, and it has subsequently been brought to our attention, that the word 'slope' is considered by some to be offensive and although it might not be widely recognised in the UK, we appreciate that it can be considered offensive to some here and overseas, for example in Australia and the USA.

 

"If we had known that at the time we would not have broadcast the word in this context and regret any offence caused."

 

Source: The Guardian

[Thief000]

No freaking way...that's just, WTF...

[Chris123NT]

I watched that video over and over again and could not at all hear him say the N word.  Someone is making something of that that it isn't.  And now more investigations?  Go ahead BBC, sack the one guy that gets you ratings for your most watched show.

[HawkMan]

OMG, first he gets reprimanded for NOT saying a word and have to apologise for NOT saying it. and now this...

[spikey_richie]

If JC gets the chop from Top Gear it'll either:

 

1 - Move to another channel

or

2 - The series will end and the beeb will be hit hard by the loss of viewers

or

3 - They'll replace him with someone else and ratings will plummet.

 

The "slope" comment was an honest mistake; but the latest offence is not appropriate Having said that, it's also strange how this has only come out of the wood work after The Sun was reviewing old content which didn't even make it to the show. They're clearly out to persecute JC.

[tsupersonic]

Oh boy...

[spikey_richie]

I watched that video over and over again and could not at all hear him say the N word.  Someone is making something of that that it isn't.  And now more investigations?  Go ahead BBC, sack the one guy that gets you ratings for your most watched show.

 

Apparently the lady The Sun employed to decipher what JC said can only be 75% sure he said the word, and she has no example of him actually saying the word to compare against the sample.

[Art3x]

I have never heard the word slope being used offensively....

[Blackhearted]

 

The "slope" remark was initially picked up by actor Somi Guha, who instructed lawyers to make a formal complaint.

 

An actor that probably nobody has heard of trying to finally get some attention.

[rfirth]

Only two complaints over "slope"? If you only receive two complaints out of all your international viewers, it's subtle enough that 99.9999999999% of viewers missed it and that the presenters didn't expect it.

[enroh]

Being English born and raised and now living in Canada for the past 30 years, I have never heard of the term "slope" before. I asked both my UK family/friends and my CDN family/friends about it and none of us had heard of the term until this "controversy". I have a pretty steep vocabulary but I had to search the Internet for it and did see it as an offensive remark but I think that one was overplayed.

As for the "n" controversy, I watched that episode and grew up reciting the "bad" version so when I watched it the first time I was like....noooooo, oh good he mumbled it. And then this...as has been said, he didn't really say it, and did the retake to not offend anyone.

My thought on this though is if he is "quoting" a nursery rhyme is it wrong? Its not like he wrote it. The Bible has plenty of hate in it but if you recite it you aren't about to get castigated for it.

[Joni_78]

What's the big deal? Black people sometimes call themself negroes so why make such a big deal out of it? We joke 'racist' things about white people too but no one is offended.

[Anibal P]

What's the big deal? Black people sometimes call themself negroes so why make such a big deal out of it? We joke 'racist' things about white people too but no one is offended.

 

Some people are perpetually and professionally offended by everything, they do this because they know that political correctness is all the rage and they get off on making someone's life miserable for some unseen offense, would be nice if they were ignored, but sadly those days are over 

[Ficman]

:wacko:    Jeremy "Lighting Rod" Clarkson

[Noir Angel]

The term "slope" is so obscure in British culture, it's highly unlikely that it would be said without knowledge of it's meaning.

[FloatingFatMan]

So, now we have to search every single damned word against words used across the ENTIRE PLANET, just to see if it might offend someone somewhere?

 

Ridiculous.

 

You can only rightly judge this against English usage of the word, and the English usage is not offensive.

[spikey_richie]

An actor that probably nobody has heard of trying to finally get some attention.

 

+1

[WAQT]

Never heard of 'Slope' being offensive in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, or Maldives, though Asia is quite big but this sounds ridiculous.

[trag3dy]

Never heard of the word slope being offensive.

 

I guess we're at a point in time where any word can be deemed offensive? Best to just not say anything?

[siah1214]

Sounds like Jeremy Clarkson should have learned the "Catch a tiger by its toe" version.

 

Never heard of slope as an offensive term.  Upon looking it up I can see that it is offensive but god only knows why.  Much ado over nothing.

[HawkMan]

The term "slope" is so obscure in British culture, it's highly unlikely that it would be said without knowledge of it's meaning.

uh... what....

 

I'm not British but I would use slope to describe just what they had, a sloping road. or a ski slope or any other slope. it's hardly obscure. unlike the offensive version wich apparently only two people in the world knows. 

If JC gets the chop from Top Gear it'll either:

 

1 - Move to another channel

or

2 - The series will end and the beeb will be hit hard by the loss of viewers

or

3 - They'll replace him with someone else and ratings will plummet.

 

The "slope" comment was an honest mistake; but the latest offence is not appropriate Having said that, it's also strange how this has only come out of the wood work after The Sun was reviewing old content which didn't even make it to the show. They're clearly out to persecute JC.

 

Clarkson supposedly owns Top Gear, so if they fire him, Top Gear goes with him, and I guess Sky gets a major new car show or someone else, Discovery network(the over arching network who owns the discovery channels and a bunch of other channels you would never expect to be owned by them) have been shopping the last few years. 

[FloatingFatMan]

The term "slope" is so obscure in British culture, it's highly unlikely that it would be said without knowledge of it's meaning.

 

A slope is a surface of which one end or side is at a higher level than another; a rising or falling surface. Used quite commonly in English, actually.

[HawkMan]

A slope is a surface of which one end or side is at a higher level than another; a rising or falling surface. Used quite commonly in English, actually.

 

It's kind of like saying "wet" is an obscure word in the english language :)

[Argi]

Always relevant @ 3min 35s

 

[Guest]

Are you freaking kidding me? So whenever I say slippery slope, I say slippery ######, negro, or nigga, or whatever the crap the actual 'bad' word is (English is not my first language, and in my mother tongue we don't have such a word, to my knowledge)?

 

Sigh. Hopefully, aliens are not watching and laughing.