Jeremy Clarkson: BBC dismisses reports that Top Gear presenter deliberately drove through Argentina with Falklands War number plate
The number plate of the Top Gear presenter’s car was accused of referencing the Eighties conflict
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Your support makes all the difference.Jeremy Clarkson has allegedly caused a minor furore in Argentina due to the number plate on his car.
The Top Gear presenter was driving through the country along the Patagonian Highway in a Porsche, when his number plate caused offence for allegedly referring to the Falklands war.
In what the BBC claims is an unfortunate coincidence, the registration number read: H982FKL – which has been impressively, if not tenuously, related to the Falklands conflict by two Argentinian news services, Clarin and Diario Jornada, for its inclusion of the letters F, K and L and numbers 9,8 and 2 (the war took place in 1982 for those who remain unoffended).
Argentina has had long-standing claims to the South Atlantic archipelago of the Falkland Islands, currently British overseas territory.
In June, the UN approved a new resolution calling on the UK and Argentina to negotiate a solution to their dispute.
The BBC has clarified that Clarkson was not deliberately trying to cause any political controversy during his recent filming.
"Top Gear production purchased three cars for a forthcoming programme," Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman told the Guardian.
"To suggest that this car was either chosen for its number plate, or that an alternative number plate was substituted for the original is completely untrue."
Clarkson strongly denied last week’s claims that the BBC had told him to behave during his recent Top Gear filming in Argentina – sharing an expletive-filled tweet directed at the Mirror, who ran the report, and a picture of himself standing next to a Chilean flag, which was aimed to prove that he was in a different country altogether.
However, the show is currently being filmed in Patagonia, which is shared by Chile and Argentina.
Clarkson received wide criticism earlier this year, after it emerged that he had appeared to use the n-word in nursery rhyme "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe" during a Top Gear outtake.
He apologised over the incident.
"Please be assured I did everything in my power to not use that word, as I'm sitting here begging your forgiveness for the fact my efforts obviously weren't quite good enough, thank you," he said in a filmed apology shared on Twitter.
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