Bottom Gear

I'm fascinated by the Jeremy Clarkson story out of the BBC in London.  For those who don't know, Clarkson is the co-host of the BBC hit show, Top Gear, which can be seen in America on BBC America.  It's an entertaining show which I'm a regular viewer of.  They bring you vehicle evaluations, vehicle challenges, and a downright entertaining travelogue about the world of automobiles.  In the last few years, the criticism of new vehicles has been toned down.  Clarkson himself nearly brought Land Rover to it's knees years ago with his spot on breakdown of their problems, but today, you can tell all the hosts are pulling their punches, especially when it's a car they really want to trash.  Also, the challenges and travel elements have become more contrived, but it's still a pretty good watch.

Their new found mellow auto reviews are no where near as begging as the ones the American version of Top Gear had, a misguided show, run off the air quickly.  The American version was pandering to automobile advertisers so bad, they would've said a concrete block was a perfect vehicle for the modern family if a car logo was on it.  It reminded me of the time I was working in Ames, Iowa and we tried to do a movie review segment as part of the show.  After our first negative review, the owner of the movie theater complained and so we were told by the station owner to never give a bad review again.  We ended up canning the bit.

Clarkson is in hot water, and now has been officially fired by the BBC from Top Gear.  Clarkson has always been a fire starter of sorts.  He's a British conservative, kind of like a year 2000 version of John McCain, but he also has a real bad streak which permeates a lot of European countries, a racist fueled nationalism which has gotten him in trouble before.  He has taunted other countries and nationalities, including the United States, and has said some things which are really unacceptable in describing certain demographic groups.  Each time he got into trouble, he became determined to never have to apologize or give in, something which had sowed a loyal following for him, but something which has also fed his ego to the level of prima donna.  That's what got him in trouble this time.

Clarkson, while filming a segment for Top Gear, returned to his hotel to find the dinner he wanted was not available.  He wanted a steak with french fries, but the hotel's restaurant had stopped serving hot food by that time and had sent up a cold plate with a variety of cold cuts, cheeses, vegetables and fruit.  Clarkson, incensed by his lack of a steak, started to verbally abuse a producer, getting nastier and nastier, as he ramped himself up into a fervor.  He started swearing horribly at the producer, threatening his job repeatedly, screaming so loud during his diatribe he could be heard throughout the hotel.  He then violently attacked the poor guy and apparently punched him for 30 seconds, bloodying him up, before someone finally stepped in to pull him off.  The producer, terrified for his job, never once tried to hit back, and just took the beating.  He ended up going to the Emergency Room, while Clarkson continued on his screaming, self centered, foul mouthed, wildly inappropriate temper tantrum, all under the listening ears of everyone in the hotel.

Stories vary on this fact, but is sounds like Clarkson, after he calmed down (no word on if he got his steak) called his supervisor and relayed the incident, I imagine from a very innocent point of view.  Clarkson must have realized this wasn't going to go away and tried to 'apologize' to the producer in person, and through e-mail and text (really?), but apparently couldn't, or his apology wasn't accepted.  The BBC had had enough.  They called in an investigation, and other media in London started looking too, and the real story came to light.  They had no choice, they had to fire him.  If they didn't, Clarkson would think he could do anything, something the BBC is still trying to come to grips with in regards to Jimmy Savile, the BBC DJ and host of Top of the Pops who raped young children for decades under to auspices of his BBC job.

Regardless, there are still Jeremy Clarkson fans who insist this is nothing, that he should be hired back.  There's no way he could ever be hired back.  Tell me the job (banker, radio host, cook, bus driver) where you could do what he did and get away with it.  He should be grateful he isn't being jailed, something which is still a possibility, as local police have asked for a copy of the BBC investigation to determine if charges should be filed.  Some have suggested he wanted out of his Top Gear contract, so this was all done on purpose.  Well, Mission Accomplished!  I don't think this was made up.  I think this is the real Clarkson, a guy who became so in love with his own press, he thought he was more important than the rest of the world.

Jeremy Clarkson will get another job.  Someone will hire him and he'll act like he's getting the last laugh, until his true persona re-emerges and he does something even worse.  Then the advertisers, or rather lack of advertisers, will take care of him.  In the end, he'll be unemployed, his bit will be canned, and he'll be looking for any venue he can use to self promote, still insisting he was right and justified in violently attacking a man for not having HIS steak dinner ready as ordered.