LONDON // The BBC has decided not to renew the contract of Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson, who was suspended after a "fracas" with a producer on the world-famous television programme.
The UK’s publicly funded broadcaster concluded that Mr Clarkson physically and verbally attacked Oisin Tymon while they were filming on location, leaving the producer with a swelling and bloody lip. He went to hospital for treatment.
“It is with great regret that I have told Jeremy Clarkson today that the BBC will not be renewing his contract,” said the BBC’s director general, Tony Hall, on Wednesday.
Mr Clarkson, 54, who has generated both controversy and profits for the BBC, was already on a final warning over accusations last year that he had used racist language while filming the motoring show.
Top Gear, which is aired in more than 200 countries, is one of the broadcaster’s most profitable shows but its lead host has offended – among others – environmental groups, mental health charities and cyclists with his forthright manner.
Mr Hall acknowledged that removing the programme’s star “will divide opinion.” But he said a line had been crossed in Mr Clarkson’s often controversial behaviour.
“There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank, or public relations and commercial considerations,” Mr Hall said.
Fans have clamoured for Mr Clarkson's return, signing a petition which was delivered to the BBC in a tank. British prime minister David Cameron called Mr Clarkson a friend and a "huge talent", while Will Wyatt, a former director of BBC television, said Top Gear without Mr Clarkson would be "a bit like the Musketeers without D'Artagnan."
Last October the show sparked a diplomatic incident between Britain and Argentina after a Top Gear television crew filming in the country drove a Porsche 928 GT with the registration number H982 FKL – an alleged reference to the 1982 Falklands conflict between the two countries.
Mr Clarkson was given a “final warning” last year following a racism row. At the time, he said he avoided using a racist word while reciting a well-known nursery rhyme while filming the car show, but begged forgiveness from audiences after admitting that “it sounds like I did.”
* Associated Press and Reuters
