Is Clarkson a racist?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/27236363

I heard that, problem is he gets what he says taken out of context so often it's hard to know what to believe......

No, he isn't. You can watch the clip on this Daily Mail link.

He purposefully mumbles the word, he doesn't say it or use it in a racist way.

Now I've read the story and they are basing it on eny meany miny mo but the rest was in audiable. I used to use that at primary school but it was always catch a baby by the toe, never realised it involved the use of that word.
Sounds like an assumption based on 'might' 'maybe' 'possibly' - the mirror hates Clarkson and all he stands for.

Clarksons version was the one I remember from school.
Never even knew what it meant either.

Racism,sexual abuse or theft is always a good way of getting rid of a celebrity.

As for racism its everywhere in moderation,its just a way of the world as is prejudice against women,overweight,ugly etc etc.
Its not something that will ever change.
yet the media is very quick to pretend the world is a wonderful place where these instances don't happen worldwide daily where celebs are concerned.

The news is something I've never watched,or even read a newspaper.
All the bickering,ruining peoples lives and shit stirring bloody grates me.

Clarkson is extremely educated despite his appearance and he knows just where the line is and has been doing it for years without ever crossing it.
He doesn't take the media seriously so plays with them whilst fully aware of the axe above his head if the wrong button is pressed.

is he FK ... he is like my dad ... with old sayings ..... and thats all it is a saying ..... with nothing harmful by the words spoken ..... only narrow minded PC noobs come up with this shite ..... if its ok for one person to say it due to there colour then its ok for everybody to say it ...... annoyed with this PC shite

Well the eeny meeny miny mo I was brought up with was

Eeny meeny miny mo
Put the baby on the po
When it's done
Wipe its bum
Eeny meeny miny mo

Must admit,the version I grew up with involved catching someone "by his toe" but I never recall a racist intention.

Clarkson represents the average middle aged Joe in this country and it isn't deliberately racist.

We need to recognise true racism from old outmoded sayings.


Ps, when I was growing up I used to spend summers on the farm in Shropshire. My gran had a "PO" under the bed for us to use at night.

Exactly.

From one who used to buy Cherry Blossom nigger brown shoe polish until well into his twenties.

Where you in the Black & white Minstrels

Clarkson always courts controversy but I couldn't hear a thing from that vid?!

Ps I should have added "white heterosexual middle class average joe"

Not sure if petep was in the B&W minstrels or not (and BTW shouldn't it now be "coloured" and white minstrels?) but I wonder if he used to collect "gollies" from his marmalade labels and send off for the badges like I used to?

I thought "coloured" is not PC. Black is the preferred reference...

Found out the other day that saying 'nitty gritty' has supposedly racist origins (depending where you read)

No, never a fan of the Black and White minstrels DaveG and never collected gollywogs either.

Interestingly there is a gift shop in Aldershot which does sell them. The owner told my wife that most of her customers for them are black, but its the whites who complain most.

I was trying to describe a work colleague he other day who is....????? And therein lies the problem. I could not decide on what was the correct descriptive word so steered clear of skin tone. They never had a clue who I meant... and still don't although they worked with them for years

Just all bloody confusing. I blame the Dambusters.

Just black is fine. It has become a word of empowerment.

FWIW I don't think Clarkson is a racist. The fact that he's apologised so profusely AT&T the mere suggestion it may cause offence shows that (a true racist would stand by his comment).

Like some others on here I had no idea the original version of that rhyme contained that word. Clearly he did though.

I do think he's a bit naive for not realising that someone would complain about it though. Especially in this day and age when any kind of racism is (quite rightly) abhorred by almost everyone. And certainly someone with as many enemies as him.

I think Mr Clarkson will be aware also of the saying That any publicity is good publicity.

I don't think he's at all naïve and that's the whole problem with him for me - he's like a naughty teenager and the act is wearing thin after about 30 years of it.

My son was told off by his teacher for saying "the blackboard"!!!!!!!

He was told "it's called a chalk board"

So we can't even say the name of colour now, feel sorry for anyone who owns an Inky or maybe a Broomie.

I only watch the occasional episode now, so was not aware of most of these controversial incidents; so made me

Top Gear

When it gets to the stage where we are not even allowed to use the offensive word when discussing whether it is offensive - that is absurd. The 'n-word'! The word 'nigger' was used in the past when racism was accepted. Why is it unacceptable to say that?

Incidentally, many black people regard that word as just a derivative of 'negro', which means black, and is perfectly acceptable to them. Black people still use it.

Influenced by a load of aussie mates, I frequently call a sandwich a sambo. I had no idea that was a racist term. I'm not racist and had my fair share of racist slurs against me as a south korean lad growing up in Wolverhampton in the 80's.

James May's tweet was pretty spot on.

My mother's partner (an intelligent man in his 60s) will describe a person of African decent as 'a negro man' for that very reason. For him it's a differentiation between someone who is African and some who is Caribbean (or a decendant thereof).

Personally, I wouldn't say negro but that's more because I think there's a good chance it could offend than because I think the term *is* derogatory.

As a person of a certain age I seem to becoming very tired of all this PC crap. We now can't seem to say what we think or say boo to a goose without fear of being "corrected" or made to feel we are no longer relevant to current society.
I recall a TV comedy show which aired in the seventies that faced racism head on and made it funny and the show was littered with nig nog, honky an other terms but not in a manner that caused serious offence in my view. Maybe I am in the minority?

Nope. As someone who read The Little Black Sambo books at school forgive me if I'm not shocked at someone not actually using the Nigger word.

I recall a Senator (?) in the states a few years ago who was forced to resign his post for using the totally unconnected word 'niggardly' - unfortunately the self-appointed 'we get offended on your behalf' crowd didn't know - or didn't want to know - that.

Has this forum suddenly gone back to the 70s? Is it Open Day for casual and not-so casual racism. An opportunity for expressing what you've been seething to say for years.

Jeremy Clarkson is a racist, the words he said were clearly audible and the comment he made in another episode (Bridge over the River Kwai) confirms it.

JBT, never reading a newspaper is not a trophy statement, and the rest of you - take a long look at yourselves.

Nice, so using the word bitch will also make one a raging misogynist?

The point being discussed, I thought, was one of nomenclature. It was not one of getting the opportunity to air racist views as if they were acceptable. It is rather one of people being outraged and offended buy often slips of the tounge by a generation were such words were part of every day language. It is not acceptable now, but an apology should be accepted.
I am not stupid enough to think n word acceptable, but confused as to why coloured is also not acceptable, or indeed what is.

I have I really, really like what I see.

I do have to admit though I would prefer to be a couple of stone lighter.

I grew up with the 'nigger' version of the rhyme and really never thought of it as racist to the extent I was quite surprised when my daughter started using it and I found the offending word had been replaced by "tiger".

Personally I'd think of it like the c-word (I'm only refering to it as such to avoid the Swearbot). It can be an offensive word but it's all about context. If you walked up to somebody and called them a c-word out of the blue you'd probably offend them, but if your mates tied you naked to a lamp-post on your stag do and you shouted that the were a bunch of c-words then they'd probably take it in good spirits.

The n-word seems to have a whole other level of taboo attached to it, to the extent that somebody mumbling a word that begins with an 'n' sound (which is how I've seen it reported) is newsworthy. We all know what the word is, the story only makes sense because we all know that nursery rhyme, but because somebody is on-film *nearly* vocalising it there's a national outcry?

I'm really more interested in just how taboo the word is - have we all seen this interviewer refusing to use the word to Samuel L Jackson?

Is Clarkson a racist?

He does seem to spend a lot of time appearing like one but I don't really think he is.

The modern Mr Clarkson behaves like a "shock Jock" baiting his followers, who provide the reaction he seems to expect / desire. Then again perhaps I'm just giving the man too much credit and he is indeed just an ignoramus?

I was advised that coloured is offensive because it generalises "non-whites", thereby undermining their ethnic origin. Unlike the term "white" which generalises all variations from Nordic to swarthy. Except it would appear "white Irish".

Some of the most vitriolic racism I've heard was from blacks referring to asians. However this is not useful when putting whites on the defensive. Much like race hate crimes appear to be white on "whatever" whereas "whatever" on white is just an assault. As a general rule if I see a news item on an assault which doesn't refer to the ethnicity of the assaulter, he/she/they are from a minority.

As someone who is not a rascist, I would be more concerned about the ground swell against moslems in this country. Sadly for them the radicals appear to make them a legitimate target for the mindless minority. Perhaps more robust action against the radicals would go some way address this issue.

Someone has it in for him. A member of the crew has taken this bit of film and gone to the paper that hates him.

I would imagine someone from the paper has been trying to gt stuff like this for a while.

The judas in the the production staff needs exposing.

Is Clarkson a racist ? Well if your black he most likley is or if your white most likely not . Personally i dont think he is a racist i just think it was the height of bad taste and should have known better . He did not pick on anyone in particular . I find the video in which he says the word bizarre . Talk about double standards at the liberal guardian organisation that is the BBC . Had it been anyone else he would have been long gone but because Clarkson is a cash cow for the BBC he stays .

Is Clarkson a racist? Anyone who tries to form a judgment on the basis of this is a bigger idiot than he is. Talking about Quorn doesn't make someone a vegetarian.

If someone is offended by him alluding to the word nigger, that makes sense. I am not personally but the word carries no 'sting' for me. Others will be. Others may find it amusing. I don't. Of course he did it out of mischief. If you don't like the man, fair enough. Freedom of speech can't be limited to what I find amusing or don't find offensive. When the shrill voices carelessly and unthinkingly label something as pathetic as this as any sort of 'ism or 'obia it demeans the term simply turning it into an object of abuse. It is this throwing hands up in horror that I suspect this incident was mocking.

It sells papers though and gives a lovely warm feeling of self-righteousness.

What Clarkson does do by poking fun at political correctness is validate those who through ignorance, fear or hatred arising from whatever their life has been are racist. Racism exists and is vile. Some of the things Clarkson says are vile, which takes me back to my first paragraph.

I can remember the late Tony Greig commentating on cricket regularly calling the Pakistani team P---s, Michael holding said that Greig wasn't a racist

What if he had been BME? Graham Norton? What if he had done what Hardeep Singh Kohli did? A word can cause less/more offence depending upon who says it, but we can also find our own prejudices and dislikes and our fear of being labelled tolerant/intolerant leading us to take a stance of greater/offence when objectively it is not warranted.

You are hearing what you want to hear, the N-word is NOT uttered, it is gibberish mumbling in the cadence of the rhyme.
Also by referring to "the words" you appear to make it clear that you think it is unacceptable to refer to the entire rhyme at all?

I'm not a massive fan of Clarkson but to accuse him of being a racist because he recited an old nursery rhyme is absurd to say the least, let's not forget that the footage was not even aired by the BBC, no doubt because of the controversy it would create, and yes, it is political correctness gone mad, the press in this country are pathetic sometimes.

Clarkson for President!

I don't think he's a racist. He didn't say it directly to anyone and even when he thought he nearly said it he asked for it to be refilmed to avoid any offence.

Off subject, but are there any ther nursery rhymes for those of us wanting to randomly choose something?

The only other one I can think of is also rude > 'Ip, dip, dog, sh*t.....'

I Wonder if Clarkson is voting UKIP?

remember you cant claim racism if you are pink/white .... otherwise you would be called a racist

I maybe wrong but I believe dual Heritage is the pc term these days

I've had the pleasure of meeting him on two different occasions (his son attends Rugby school and he normally goes for food at prezzo or the three horse shoes hotel) he is one of the most down to earth people I've met considering his profile and the relentless amount of people asking his autobiograph, picture etc but always happy to talk to people, sign books and have his picture taken.

I really don't think he is a racist, like said it's an old rhyme with so many different versions, but when you hum them they all said alike.

Again it's the media blowing things way out of proportion, when was that episode aired? Majority of people probably didn't even realise at the time but now it's plasterd all over the news the complaints come rolling in very similar to the Russel Brand and Jonathan Ross saga.

In my opinion it's a load of rubbish and I can't wait for the new series of Top Gear

Here here

Having spent the last 4 years in foreign (eastern countries) I know that racism is not unique to some folk in the UK. I am the minority over here; and I know it…..

Get a grip UK, open your eyes

The world has gone completely stupid with this PC garbage, apar you can't even say 'black' anymore, it has to be 'coloured'.

The word racist itself means to regard one's own race as being superior.

'Nigger' is derived from the Spanish 'Negro', which we all know is 'black'

Now Spanish for white is 'Blanco', would you particularly give a xxxx if you were referred to as a 'Blancer'?

Context is a universally misused thing.................

If Clarkson was to get the boot, I for one wouldn't bother watching Top Gear again. I've read the majority of his books and find him a very intelligent and articulate person, who quite rightly throws two fingers up at society every now and then.

double post

Yes but he loves Coupes.

Ah the double standards that make the BBC (liberal luvvies) . This guy never even said the word and was sacked or told to leave .http://metro.co.uk/2014/05/11/bbc-forces-dj-to-quit-after-mistakenly-playing-song-containing-the-n-word-4723938/

I spotted it too!




A veteran BBC local radio DJ has lost his job after playing a song on his golden oldies show containing a racist word.

BBC Radio Devon DJ David Lowe, 68, said he was unaware that a 1932 version of The Sun Has Got His Hat On included the n-word.

Mr Lowe, a broadcaster for 32 years, said it was an "innocent mistake".

He said BBC bosses declined his idea of an on-air apology, and his offer to "fall on my sword" was accepted.

The BBC said it accepted that the situation could have been handled better, and offered freelance Mr Lowe his job back.

'Political correctness'
But the DJ said the incident had exacerbated a stress-related condition and he would not be returning to the corporation.

The second verse of the song, recorded by the UK dance band Ambrose and his Orchestra, features the line: "He's been tanning [n-word] out in Timbuktu, now he's coming back to do the same to you." Later versions of the song omit the offensive word.

looks like they will have to sack Will.i.am from The Voice then ....