14 DAY TRIAL // It was a scandal for the ages that shook even further the reputation of one of Britain's most famous and most loved TV presenters, Jeremy Clarkson. During the final minutes of the now infamous “Burma Special” episode of the Top Gear motoring show, Clarkson made a joke that many found racist and offensive.
After much deliberation and an investigation into the matter, watchdog Ofcom has determined that the word “slope” was used at the time as derogatory to Asian people and that the line was intended as such, or, better put, it wasn't an accident.
The episode was broadcast in March and during one scene, Clarkson can be seen pointing towards the bridge that he and his colleagues have just completed. He says, “That is a proud moment … but … there is a slope on it.”
The joke had a double meaning, because the bridge did have an incline, something which co-presenter Richard Hammond quickly jumps in to point out, “You are right … it is definitely higher on that side,” but it also referred to an Asian man that was crossing the bridge at that time.
Media regulator Ofcom has ruled that the word “slope” is sometimes used as a derogatory term to express people of Asian descent and that Clarkson knew that at the time of the recording. At that point, the BBC explained that the joke was meant as “an inoffensive, humorous play on words.”
But Ofcom came to the conclusion that the joke could be offensive to some and that it could have been avoided, “There was clearly an opportunity both during filming and post-production to research the word and reach a more considered view on whether it was ‘mere slang’ and had the potential to cause offence to viewers.”
For its part, the BBC didn't seem to want to give this incident more attention than it deserved and thus gave its position, “We dealt with this matter some time ago, the program apologized at the time and explained the context, and we are now focusing on delivering another series of one of Britain’s best-loved shows.”
For Clarkson, however, things are not as simple as that. He has recently been caused in another racial scandal, this time for a nursery rhyme he used on Top Gear to choose between two seemingly identical cars. The footage was removed in the final version of the episode but it somehow leaked online a couple of months ago.
At the time, the BBC gave a final warning to Clarkson to avoid such situations in the future or he will be fired. For the first time ever, Clarkson, usually a brazen figure on TV, appeared in a low-quality video to apologize to those he had offended and explained that he meant no harm when he used the N-word on TV.