Controversial TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC “following a fracas” with a producer, reports the Guardian today. Details of the run-in with the producer are unknown. The BBC released a brief statement on the matter. “Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation. No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time.”
This is by no means the first time that Clarkson has been in trouble. The Top Gear host was already on “final notice” after a racist incident involving the N-word last year. He has also been repeatedly criticized for his on-air sexist and racist remarks. He once said that people who threw themselves under trains were selfish, and called for striking workers to be shot. And last year Clarkson and his Top Gear co-hosts almost caused a riot in Argentina after driving a car with an offensive license plate that referenced the Falklands War. In spite of Clarkson’s boorish persona, or perhaps because of it, Top Gear is one of the BBCs top-rated shows, with an average of five million viewers every Sunday.
