Clarkson

[bunn]

I have to admit, I'd assumed that Jeremy Clarkson had long ago jumped his own personal shark, and had been playing an Ali G -style character based on himself on Top Gear for many years.   I'm rather saddened that recent events suggest that he was actually taking himself seriously.

Although I've not signed it myself*, I am amused by the fact that the petition to bring back Clarkson was set up on change.org.  Judging by the emails I get from change.org, they take themselves rather seriously, and their userbase profile has probably just changed in ways they were really not expecting...

Also, The Stig delivering the petition to the BBC  in a tank (or is it a self-propelled gun as I saw some gun nerd complaining somewhere?) was an inspired piece of theatre that I can only appreciate.

* because, amusing though Clarkson and petition both are, when it comes down to it, if he really thumped someone vastly poorer and less influential than himself, or even threatened to do so, that's pretty abysmal behaviour and I'm not sure an online petition to allow him 'freedom to fracas' is in any way an appropriate response. 

Comments

[andrewducker]

Oh goodness yes.

And although I don't watch Top Gear, I didn't have a lot of sympathy for the anti-Clarkson brigade in general.

But assault is a dismissal situation in every job, I'd have thought.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I guess I am thinking that the views of the assaultee are important, and I don't know what they are, and I don't know exactly what happened.

So I'm not prejudging the enquiry, but I am definitely not signing the petition either!

[purplecat]

Having sat in a Union meeting where a Union Rep discussed bringing and assault charge against a member of University admin for placing his hand on her arm, I would say there are a range of sins encompassed under accusations of assault. I imagine the whole point of suspension and then enquiry is to demonstrate that such accusations are taken seriously but then to establish how serious the alleged assault actually was - there is a difference, after all, between a right-hook and a light shove.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm also wondering about the implications of Clarkson being sacked for Oisyn Tymon: would he end up with a damaged career as the man that killed Top Gear? Might he *prefer* to go on working with an apologetic Clarkson rather than move on to new projects? That sort of thing seems like it should be taken into account.

[purplecat]

Hmm, I don't think producers are generally that much noticed by the general public so after the initial excitement I can't imagine that "the man who killed Top Gear" will do him too much harm in terms of people worrying about how the public might receive a show he produced. On the other hand, internal behind-closed-doors scuttlebutt on the extent to which he may or may not have provoked the situation, and how professionally he handled it afterwards could make a big difference, however one assumes there will be a correlation between the scuttlebutt and how professional he was. If he wasn't being professional then this was certainly a good way to get that widely known inside the industry, but I would say the damage has already been done there, regardless of final outcome for Top Gear.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Ah, but he isn't, despite some reports, the show's producer. He's just an associate producer. Or to put it another way, a glorified gofer. A big part of his job seems to have been stuff like sorting out on-location catering arrangements. Since the incident supposedly started when Clarkson arrived back to the hotel after a day's filming to find that they weren't doing hot food, it calls into question how well he was doing his job. That might be why he didn't report the incident.

[purplecat]

In which case one suspects the damage is done, irrespective of the outcome.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I fear so. Can't help but feel sorry for the bloke.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the public will forget him tomorrow.

But I wonder how it might feel to go from working - presumably long term - on a big successful ongoing production to trying to find another job in an industry where I believe work comes and goes, and where the first question asked by anyone else who hired him would, one imagines, inevitably be about Clarkson.

[purplecat]

Yes, I suppose if Top Gear continues he still has a job, albeit possibly in rather unpleasant circumstances.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes. I don't know what happened, or what the situation was. I'm waiting for the enquiry.