Jeremy Clarkson will not face further BBC action as Top Gear n-word footage was not broadcast
The TV presenter has been heavily warned about his offensive behaviour
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Your support makes all the difference.Jeremy Clarkson has escaped further BBC action for allegedly using a racist insult while filming for Top Gear.
The controversial TV presenter was heard mumbling the n-word while reciting children’s nursery rhyme “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe” in outtakes from the show, leading to widespread outrage.
Clarkson’s racial slur was not aired but some viewers complained to the BBC Trust about his behaviour. On hearing that their complaints would not be taken further as there was no case to answer, viewers appealed for the decision to be reviewed.
However, the Trust has now confirmed that no further action will be taken because the offending material was not broadcast and “apologies had been made”.
In a report published this week, the Complaints and Appeals Board agreed that the incident “did not engage editorial standards” and an appeal would have “no reasonable prospect of success”.
The committee noted that the BBC had left Clarkson “in no doubt about how seriously [it] views this”.
Shortly after the footage was published by the Daily Mirror, the BBC gave Clarkson a final warning, leading him to write in his newspaper column that one more offensive remark would likely see him sacked.
Clarkson has recently been embroiled in a row with Argentina over the Top Gear number plate scandal'. The team was driving a Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL through the country when angry locals took it to be a deliberately provocative reference to the Falklands War.
The country's ambassador Alicia Castro wrote to the BBC Trust about the "inadequate" response she received from BBC director of television Danny Cohen about the incident, which he assured her was coincidental.
The Patagonia special will air at Christmas despite the controversy, the BBC confirmed last week.
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