Jezza Clarkson cops flak for 'truckers murder strumpets' gag

A quip from Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson suggesting that lorry drivers kill prostitutes has attracted 188 complaints to the BBC. Clarkson was "taking part in a lorry-driving task" on Sunday's pre-watershed show when he said: "Change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. …

[Anonymous Coward]

Get a life get a job

these people have far too much time on their hands, most rational people, so on current estimates thats 4 brits, realise it was a joke and wasnt meant to be taken seriously or offensively.

I say we go back to the good old days of silent films, that way nobody will be able to say anything offensive.

Good day to you sir. NO its not its raining, i take offense and am reporting you to ofcom :)

[Anonymous Coward]

BBC Board of Governors should resign

When they demanded action over the Russell Brand thing, they made the BBC into the Daily Mail's bitch.

It means that any sad unhappy fat and alone woman in her shell suit can feel a little powerful in their otherwise unhappy dull, insignificant, powerless lives by complaining about a BBC show on the weakest of grounds.

The Board of Governors has undermined the BBC by it's action and should resign.

BTW who are the old duffers?

[Yorkshirepudding]

release the hounds!

im just waiting for the daily wail to launch another campaign, if you dont like it turn over ffs!

nobody complained about about the comment about the stig making sweet love to brands answer machine or that he would have tried to mount the white lambo.

move along move along.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop whinging!

I love Top Gear and have since the clarkson took over the reigns.

As mentioned on the BBC site when watching TG you have to take clarkson how he is. Yes he will speak his mind, but its refreshing in this PC mad country.

Some people have nothing better to do than complain, get a sense of humour!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh please....

Is there ANYONE in this country who can take a joke anymore? It's Jeremy Clarkson being classic Jeremy Clarkson - If you're watching Top Gear at all you should know what he's like.

I'd bet that those who complained didn't actually watch the show...

[Richard]

You just wait

He'll be up against the wall in no time. Although in this case he doesn't have some skank fanning the flames because her gleaming reputation, as a stripper, has be tarnished. Plus a lot more Daily Mail reading green inkers.

Speaking of against the wall...

"Given the BBC got more than 30,000 complaints regarding the Brand and Woss Manuelgate scandal [...] the Clarkson polemic seems likely to cost the petrolhead nothing more than ten minutes away from the wheel and five quid docked from his wages."

Does that mean that your punishment is directly related to the number of complaints received by Ofcom? In which case, next time Wacky Jackie, or anyone else we all hate speaks on TV, we must ALL write in to complain. Maybe she'll get the chair.

[Anonymous Coward]

Baiting.

Clarkson, of course, after getting a few complaints of this type, has spent most recent series of Top Gear trying to put something in each show that'll have the hordes of Little England reaching for the phones.

I can't recall whether it was the series just gone or the one before, but I and a friend coined the game of Top Gear Complaint Bingo; trying to guess during an episode which items would be the complaint making the news during the following week. Sometimes we were spot on, sometimes way off; the Porsche pipes episode I vaguely recall Clarkson saying something ridiculously offensive and baiting during the news, but it was the shock-horror-smoking-ban-violated action that got the phones ringing.

My impression is the chap's endlessly amused that people who hate his show and everything he stands for waste an hour of their life every week watching it to find something to complain about.

Incidentally, have you looked at the BBC's public responses to complaints page? Almost a third of complaints seem to be based on a template of, "Interesting thing happened in Eastenders storyline. How dare they!"

[Cameron Colley]

Where did all the freedom go?

Is it now "against guidelines" to have a sense of humour different ot that of a prudish moron?

[Simon]

No US election angle?

What? There is an election going on in some foreign country that is not relevent to the UK?

Well any news media in this country would feel a bit foolish I suppose if they had been reporting it for months on end to us Brits who really couldn't give a toss.

El Reg, this is why I love you so much (You havent had any articles about the election thingy, right?)

Oh, sorry this story is about Clarkson, umm, yeah, bad boy, booo!

[Dan White]

Get a grip FFS!

Even the most sheltered Mary Whitehouse admirer should know the type of humour you're going to experience on Top Gear by now. TG has been demonstrating "Viz" style material for ages, and I thought it was hysterical. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

I await the Daily Mail's response, and the Sun's, "We're backing our Truckers" sticker campaign with the usual degree of disdain.

Paris, because she's demonstrated the ability to take a heavy load before...

[Big_Boomer]

Sailing close to the wind

Yes, Clarkson often sails a bit too close to the wind but that is what we all expect of him.

I'm a motorcyclist but you didn't hear many of us complaining when he implied that we are not "human beings". Those that did complain need to get a life if they are that insecure.

Yes, murder is a serious business and I sympathise with the surviving victims but this was in no way condoning murder. I saw it as another example of Clarksons sarcastic wit (or lack thereof).

This is nothing like the offenses against common decency that Ross & Brand carried too far so please stop comparing this to that. Ross & Brand got what they deserved.

[Glyn]

stacks

Stacks of uncensored gentleman's literature before the watershed and nothing said about that...wonder what happened to that lot....

Mine's the one with "Dirty old men need love too" on the back

[Anonymous Coward]

Thing is...

Just like the brand/goth slapper thing, its all true, both my brother and uncle are truck drivers and the garage is just full of bodies rolled up in old carpets.

Thing is the law only allows 3 murders before they have to take a 30min break...and that means they can't dump the ones they do in their spare time in laybys causing issues with 'missing people' and causing discomfort within the general population. Clarkson has only brought this to the attention of the average person and they don't like it...But just like Ramadan and Diwali, murdering truckers are a traditional british institution and as such are above the common law of sense and jokes about them shouldn't be tolerated. Well done the BBC for yet again showing that even though hundreds of millions of people enjoy top gear world wide we should let the voice of the .000000001% of the viewers that find jokes about willies, bums and black oap midgets offensive, be used to regulate the only funny show worth watching on a Sunday night.

[Dave]

Non-Complaint

I heard it, not the biggest chuckle of the night, but I certainly wasn't offended by it. Okay?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well done BBC

By not backing up your own employees and bowing to the pressure of the Daily Mail brigade you made it open season on everyone at the BBC. Congratulations.

[radian]

bandwagon

I personally don't like Jo Brand. I find her offensive to look at and listen too. I can't wait for the day she does something to offend the general public so I can use it as an excuse to complain and hopefully get her off TV.

Its a shame we can't get rid of politicians so easily.

[Efros]

highly distasteful and insensitive

They obviously have never watched Jezza at work before. Highly distasteful and insensitive he may be but occasionally he's pretty funny too!

[AC]

$title;

Sack Ross,

promote clarkson to PM.

</comment>

[Anonymous Coward]

In other news

all UK tv has been replaced by the "Good Life".

However all livestock scenes have been romoved, just in case it offends some relgion, somewhere..

Hold on...

breaking news, it has been replaced by the test card as the Good life offended someone who doesn't like Ms kendal....

Hold on, update..

the girl has been removed from the testcard, as it may get Peados excited.

It has now been replaced by a non offensive Blanks screen...

Hold on, a black screen has upset one whte middleass Daily Mail reader who thinks that it may offend black people with it's negative stereotype. Thefore the BBC is now going to go off air....

[Mike Crawshaw]

A few more slips like that..

And he'll have a realistic shot of actually becoming PM!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't upset the poor prozzies

Brian Tobin, director of The Iceni Project, "a charity which had helped some of the murdered prostitutes in Ipswich", described the gag as "highly distasteful and insensitive".

Absolutely. Clarkson should be sacked for upsetting these criminals? Just because they make a living from breaking the law doesn't mean they don't have feelings.

Paris, well.....

[Neil Greatorex]

188 complaints

You have to wonder who's complaining here, even the Daily Wail loves Top Gear.

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolute tosh

I can't believe this, I really can't. I mean, who are these people doing all the complaining? Because from what I heard on the news this morning, a great many lorry drivers have defended Clarkson's comment, saying they thought it was hilarious and not in the least bit offensive. This must be the work of the PC we-need-to-protect-people-from-comedy-incase-they-injure-themselves-laughing thought police brigade.

Screw it, I'm off to complain about The IT Crowd, for propagating stereotypical views of the IT industry which, I for one, dont find in the least bit offensive, but someone somewhere might.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot:

Wont someone PLEEEEEAAAAASEEEEE think of the CHILDREN!

[Anonymous Coward]

Moral Minority

Oh my God....the PC crowd are up in arms again. Get a life. We expect it from Jezza (and is he that wrong???)

It's not as if this is an unexpected comment - if you don't like things he says - don't watch the f***ing programme!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

wasted energy

Why can the people who want to complain, complain about things that actually matter!

Which would you rather people complain about

1) Jezzer making comments about lorry drivers

or

2) Poorly trained / overworked foreign lorry drivers being let loose on UK roads causing multiple deaths http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7706753.stm

Some people need to get a grip!

[Vincent]

The perfect puishment...

Take away all his fancy cars - make him drive the G-Wiz instead!

[Richard Cartledge]

At least it's not as bad as...

What's the difference between Steve Wright and Mr Kipling?

Mr Kipling only puts six tarts in a box.

[David S]

Careful now.

Down with this sort of thing.

[Gareth Jones]

A bit of the usual

It does seem somewhat ridiculous that somebody should be so hypocritical as to enjoy a programme who's stock in trade is to offend and then take offence, but it's a scenario familiar to the readers of Private Eye. How often does a letter begin: "I have been a subcriber since your inception." and end: "Please cancel my subscription."?

And BTW there have been rather more than one case of a lorry driver murdering protitutes. Ever heard of a chap called Peter Sutcliffe for example?

And I know we'll see lots of comments along the lines of "This is supposed to be a magazine programme about cars". Well anybody who remembers the old Top Gear will remember that it was even duller than Fifth Gear is now (takes some doing) and more importantly nobody watched it. Top Gear isn't "supposed to be" anything in particular, I think you'll find it's a motoring based entertainment show.

[Anonymous Coward]

Who complained?

Honestly, who complained? Truck drivers? Prostitutes?

I think they should have a clearing process for complaints to the BBC. My rudimentary flowchart looks something like this:

1) Did you watch the show? ----- no ---> bog off

|

|

yes

|

|

2) Are you a truck driver or a prostitute? ----- no ---> bog off

|

|

yes

|

|

3) Get a sense of humour

[Anonymous Coward]

Must be a slow news week

Consider the feeding frenzy that occurred when people heard about the Ross/Brand business. It makes you wonder if some folk have nothing better to do than take offence at every little thing. Or if we really have that many people with such a sense of humour failure that they can't take comments like this.

"....when will you lose your stupidity, Mary Long?" (Deep Purple)

[Alex]

...heh

Watch that figure JUMP significantly like Ross and Brands...

I have Bandwagoners.... There should be a time limit for registering your complaint to stop would-be Beep slaggers, and making their argument about licence fee instead of the real complaint.

Mine's the one with "How to lose friends and alienate people" in the pocket...

[Jamie]

Get a damn life you lazy bastards

Jeremy made a comment that upset some people. Did he upset the people the comment were about. No, instead he upset a bunch of tree hugging, pansy waist, do-gooders who do more harm than anyone else.

[Will]

F*cks sake....

....will people leave broadcasters along, soon we will have to return to re-runs of 70s sit coms because everything else is just 'too' edgy.

Its all bollocks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pfft

The BBC did nothing after he advocated murdering motorcyclists*, so why should they do anything now?

Quite what we pay of BBC tax for escapes me, certainly not low-grade gutter muck like this.

*Stringing wire across the road to decapitate them. Some jokers actually did this.

[Mudslinger]

Fair comment?

Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper) was also a truck driver.

[Anonymous Coward]

See what happens?

See what happens when you encourage people to complain? What a load of bollocks.

We should erect signs at all major airports:

"BRITAIN - NOT AS FUNNY AS IT USED TO BE"

[It wasnt me]

Well done el reg.

It'll be in the daily mail tomorrow, and the next day the BBC will be suspended, clarkson will be flogged by middle england, and BT will come to a standstill under the weight of billions of furious nobodies seething with rage complaining to everyone. Yet none of them will have watched the program, as celebrity fatso lipo-reduction diaries (Series 3) was probably on the other side.

And the rest of us who thought it was funny will lose out.

Great.

[Pete James]

[e-mail]

Clarkson coming back on the screens after Ross and Brand getting into trouble was almost guaranteeing complaints would come in. Face it, some - no, a lot - of the complainants have an agenda. They don't like the licence fee, they have a political axe to grind (too left wing! Not left wing enough!) or they have a personal dislike of the presenter/actor/singer etc. Or they read the Daily Mail of course, in which case they want the whole world spun back to 1936 as it was so much nicer back then chaps. The media-led protestations have rudely shoved aside Mr Sachs (the victim in this little caper, shame on you for forgetting) and now they have another chance to give the BBC a shoeing from a remark made by Clarkson. A comment that at any other time would not have got column space. No it wouldn't, don't argue.

Besides, what is this Iceni Project? "A charity which had helped some of the murdered prostitutes in Ipswich". Didn't help them much seeing as the poor souls are dead.

[David Edwards]

Worse than smoking

Seeing as how the BBC received complaints about Clarkson and Co smoking pipes, and letters about the fact that it was in breach of the smoking ban. It would appear that ther are some people that watch this show in order to write down lists of things they are offended about. And remember in todays society "offending" someone is a far worse crime than...say...stabbing them...or burgling their house.

[dervheid]

Look out, look out...

the Thought Police are about!

No doubt the 'meja' will blow this all out of proportion. Again.

Has this country completely lost it's sense of humour since the 70's?

Wait... oh. Apparently it has.

Bugger.

[Anonymous Coward]

Self obsessed BBC

As usual, the BBC miss the point of the whole Woss saga, it's not that they broadcast anything, it's

because they phoned up an old man who had f'all to do with their crappy program, and left him an

abusive message on his answer phone.

No, for the BBC it must all be about the might of media and their boredcasting.

[TeeCee]

Bloody hell!

Jezza Clarkson said something that offended somebody? Has the world gone mad?

Everyone knows that Jeremy is a model of political correctness and would never make snide, offensive comments about anyone. Especially cyclists, pedestrians, drivers of diesel engined vehicles, those who travel on public transport and of course caravanners, for all of whom he has the greatest respect.

I wonder if something's happened at the beeb recently to cause them to come over all hand-wringing at the slightest indication of any possible offence being caused, however slight?

[Stuffer]

Outraged from Orpington

Oh FFS...this is getting ridiculous. Obviously Clarkson has been paid large amounts of cash from Labour party funds to ensure he makes a suitably "outrageous" remark to ensure that the Daily Mail stops focussing on the continuing economic crisis and focuses instead on the filth that is being peddled on a daily basis by the BBC....

[Peter Thompson]

Peter Sutcliffe...

...was the original truck-driving prostitute slayer. Anyway, Viz made this joke about fifteen years ago.

[Richard Evans]

Anyone mind telling me why...

The world has had a sense of humor by-pass?

Yeah, i mean the world economy is in termoil, there are huge humanitarian issues in Africa but "oh my god what did he just say?! Where is my pen?"

[Lex]

It's Clarkson!

This is petty. It's Clarkson! He permanently makes statements like this, its part of what makes him funny. Remember the 'running over a fox' incident when he was on a game show panel?

I'm glad I am not alone in this understanding also, and most public votes I have seen so far about this topic have been 80% towards statements like "It was just a joke, people should get over it".

The only solace I have is knowing that there is very little chance Clarkson will car about this, or he'll find the media attention to it funny. And good on him.

[David Simpson]

Iceni Project

Brian Tobin, director of The Iceni Project, "a charity which had helped some of the murdered prostitutes in Ipswich"

I assume that means the Iceni Project helped some of the prostitutes BEFORE they were murdered.

The UK is now full of people who read newspapers and watch TV Mary Whitehouse style just looking for things to be offended at.

YOU DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO BE OFFENDED AT ANYTHING.

Yes Clarkson's joke was tasteless but that does not make it unfunny, it was very funny. Much like poor old Ross and Brand, it starting as being a horrific attack on an old man and his young grand daughters dignity and has now turned out that Brand did indeed sleep with her and she is a borderline sex worker who sold her story to the Sun, BRING BACK ROSSY !

[Hig Hurtenflurst]

How many?

IIRC The BBC got two complaints about R&B after the show (i.e. before the media went hatstand about it), so looks like poor old JC is going down for a long stretch!

[A J Stiles]

What is happening to the world?

What is happening to the world? Have we really become so thin-skinned? Can't anyone take a joke anymore? It takes a special kind of sad-act to sit glued to the telly all day, just waiting to be offended.

I think we should advertise the BBC's new high-speed complaint service, where all you need to do if something on television or radio offends you is stick your finger in the nearest light socket.

[Anonymous Coward]

do you remember when.....

.... people could make a joke without being given a good kicking by the british public?

John Cleese better hope that the BBC don't rerun 'The Germans' episode of Fawlty Towers.

Ross and Brand's little stunt was probably unwise, but if you were listening to their show, you should have been expecting something 'unusual'. They did apologise though.

Clarkson, was just being Clarkson.

[Baldychap]

Oh please...

I saw Top Gear on Sunday and thought it was bloody funny. And that's the reason most people watch it, sure the cars et al. are good but I bet most people watch it for the laddish humour and the stunts Jeremy, Hamster and Cpt. Slow get up to each week. I know I do.

If you feel like you should complain, then f**k off and watch sky.

[Anonymous Coward]

comparatively

that's only 186 complaints *more* than the other two had on the day following their broadcast.

[Conor Turton]

I'm a lorry driver...

And I found it hilarious. Obviously all the complainants failed to see the joke. Peter Sutcliffe, aka The Yorkshire Ripper was a lorry driver - hence the comment.

AND WHY DO THE BBC STILL INSIST ON SAYING STEVE WRIGHT WAS A LORRY DRIVER? He wasn't. He drove a forklift truck. Just because it has the word truck in the name, doesn't mean it's a lorry. Another typical example of the low standards of BBC journalism.

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF???

Come on... if you are easily offended, then don't watch Jeremy Clarkson! I would think that after 20 years of broadcasting, people would realise he doesn't mince his words, is highly opinionated and is always pushing what he can get away with.

He is probably the opposite of what I stand for, both politically (I do occasionally find myself reading the Guardian) and in taste in cars (I drive a Vauxhall, and not a new cool one), I also work for a railway company he has often commented on, yet I still watch Top Gear and buy his books, because it is funny and definitely not PC.

I'm starting to think that people are getting too carried away with complaining about the BBC.

Anyway, everyone knows lorry drivers are closet cases who murder "ladies of the night" out of frustration at not being able to get their lad up for anything other than a 17 year old rent boy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Two words...

Bandwagon.

[James Dunmore]

It's not the presenter at fault

FFS it's not like it's live telly - it is pre-recorded - if it goes out and "bad stuff" is said - the person up against it should be the editor/producer - end of.

But again, if you like Top Gear + Clarkson, prepared to be offended!

[Mark]

Sheesh...

"Given the BBC got more than 30,000 complaints regarding the Brand and Woss Manuelgate scandal"

Come on, the BBC had 17 complaints, until of course Daily Mail readers heard about it and complained, despite not actually listening to the show...

Sheesh.... You lot as as bad as the gutter press that reports this crap.

[Ash]

Don't like naked women in your newspaper?

Don't read the Star or the Sun.

Leave Russell Brand and Jeremy Clarkson to their crowd; Stick to the Times Educational Supplement and re-runs of University Challenge.

[Peter]

I want to complain about wanton complaints

OK, someone watches Clarkson and is OFFENDED? How politically correct do you have to be? What they did in that episode was showing that their initial attitude towards lorry drivers was wrong, and admitted to it.

About the only thing they missed was showing just how much braking distance a loaded lorry needs and what happens to any car that gets in the way of that (cab driver having to choose between running you over or getting 50 tonnes of load in his neck - any idea what his/her decision would be? Exactly).

I guess the complainants want to get rid of the last remaining shows that are worth watching.

I'd look at the bright side, Top Gear at least doesn't get you pregnant (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7707664.stm - apparently no nookie required :-) ).

Mine's the one with the blindfold, handcuffs and a Columbo DVD..

[Anonymous Coward]

Daily Mail? PC?

"Hold on, a black screen has upset one whte middleass Daily Mail reader who thinks that it may offend black people with it's negative stereotype."

I think you'll find that its

"Hold on, a black screen has upset one white Daily Mail reader who thinks that it's positive action in favour of non-whites"

[Geoff Hirst]

Jezza

Between Health and Safety and Ofcom, the country is going to grind to a politically correct standstill.

If this is the biggest thing in your life you have to complain about, then you need to get out more.

Sad gits.

[Alexis Vallance]

Cobblers

If Clarkson were sacked, as some of these morons are calling for, that would mean we surely have to cancel Mock the Week, Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie to You, Live at the Apollo - in fact any program with humour.

I've seen more 'bad taste' jokes in 5 minutes of any Jimmy Carr gig you care to mention, which are usually broad cast of Channel 4.

[Anonymous Coward]

Won't somebody...

please, please, please THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

[RichyS]

Do the proper maths

On the basis that of the 27,000 complaints the Beeb received about the Ross/Brand Daily Mail inspired outrage, only 2 were made from people who actually listened to the show; Top Gear can expect a further 2.5 million or so whingers. Or about 1 in 10 license fee^H^H^H tax payers. Even with some ludicrous assumptions, that not very much, is it?

Personally, I found it quite amusing. But then I've not been a prostitute. Or murdered yet.

Paris, 'cos she's managed to avoid being murdered by a lorry driver. For now.

[Anonymous Coward]

Daily Mail should be banned

We should all go to the press complaints commission at:

http://www.pcc.org.uk/complaints/process.html

Then tell them that the Daily Mail is a right pain in the neck. The flames indicating piles of The Daily Mail being burnt.

[Anonymous Coward]

Humour

Because God forbid anyone should try to make light of ANYTHING, stop these people trying to make humorous remarks!

Give these people who complain lives to live so they can stop complaining about every little thing.

[RichyS]

@AC Above

That's not two words, it's one.

I'm deeply offended, and demand an apology.

[Anonymous Coward]

The US wuvs him too! And The Stig!

Even on the dirty side of the pond I can't miss my weekly Top Gear. Shame BBC America has the episodes 8 months late. Now the retards at the BBC are doing some stupid Top Gear America, with Adam Corolla!! What?

(Hmmm, I just checked out topgear.com/us and it appears due to the over 9000 "you gotta be sh*tting me!" replies on the forum, there's no mention of this now AND it appears BBC America will have the new eps in DECEMBER! Yay Christmas!)

[Sam]

iceni

"I assume that means the Iceni Project helped some of the prostitutes BEFORE they were murdered."

A lot of fucking good they did, then...

[Anonymous Coward]

El Reg Reverse Twat-O-Tron

Looks like the anti-PC brigade (see what I did there? On an IT website!) have taken over this comments section!

A lot of you seem to be missing the point: the comment wasn't offensive to LORRY DRIVERS (who I'm sure are probably thick skinned enough to cope), but to the relatives and friends of any of the victims. Admittedly a small group, but still a pretty damn thoughtless thing to say.

But then since being tasteless and offensive *IS* Clarkson's stock-in-trade, it's not really that big a surprise.

And yes I did see the original broadcast.

[Ivan Headache]

is it me or...

I'm convinced that hammond said it first in the sequence where they introduced the item while sitting on their 'sofas'. However, I just watched it on iplayer and it's not there.

Did I imagine it or has iPlayer been edited?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm

I don't see what these 300+ are complaining about.

With the other two they'd done something arguably illegal, and broadcasting it afterwards was just the icing on the cake. So they got what they deserved, as I hope would anyone who made phonecalls from work to leave insults on an answerphone.

On the other hand Clarkson made a not very good joke in poor taste. I wasn't particularly impressed by it (it wasn't exactly funny, particularly as I think the quoted joke was the second time he used the idea) but a crap joke is hardly a reason to complain. And compared to his usual efforts it was nothing. And the rest of the show more than made up for it.

That said the guy is an arsehole off-screen (as many who've dealt with him will know) so if this minor storm causes him a bit of pain & trouble I can hardly say I'm sorry about it.

Anyway, looking forward to the next show (filming tomorrow) to see what he comes out with in response!

[Anonymous Coward]

re: Just because they make a living from breaking the law doesn't mean they don't have feelings

Selling your body for sex is legal. Advertising and looking for it is not.

Bill Gates as I'd pay to take him up the arse.

[Toastan Buttar]

@Big Boomer

"Yes, murder is a serious business and I sympathise with the surviving victims."

Surviving murder victims ? Errrrrr, how does that work, then ?

[Graham]

What a joke

The remarks made by Jeremy Clarkson were made in a aspect of comedy. I didn't feel he was labeling truckers as murders.

It is time for common sense rather than tabloid style witch hunts. At this rate all bikers will start to complain about him along with 'vertically challenged' people.

[Rob Beard]

Anti-PC brigade

Comment from AC "Looks like the anti-PC brigade (see what I did there? On an IT website!) have taken over this comments section!"

Are the Anti-PC brigade a bunch of Jesus Phone totting Apple-tards? (or should that be iTards?).

Rob

[Brian]

Just watched it again

and I'm still not offended.

It's not as witty as some stuff they have come up with (the Nazi references during the caravanning episode had me in stitches), but it was still funny.

Anyone offended by that needs to get some perspective - as people have pointed out, the joke was about Peter Sutcliffe and not Steve Wright (I find the BBC presenter of that name highly irritating, and would like to see him follow Brand), so it's about events between 27 and 33 years ago.

Surely we can joke about events that old?

Mine's the one with the Broadmoor ID card in the pocket :o)

[Markie Dussard]

Can't stand Clarkson ...

... so I don't bother watching his show.

Thus I never feel the need to complain about anything he says. I note that he never complains about anything I say either.

In this way both Clarkson's freedom of speech and my freedom to choose operate smoothly to everyone's mutual benefit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmmm

An AC said of Clarkson:

"That said the guy is an arsehole off-screen (as many who've dealt with him will know)"

Presumably you can back this up and didn't just pull it out of your rear end? The stories I've heard from people who've met him are that he's charming and gracious.

Are you a friend of Piers Morgan by any chance?

[Paul]

RE: El Reg Reverse Twat-O-Tron

"Admittedly a small group, but still a pretty damn thoughtless thing to say."

Why? How? Someone dies. Someone makes a joke about it a long time after it happens. So? I see no problem about it. ALSO, you seem to have missed the earlyer point, the people complaining are complaining about a non issue. The murders they, and you, are talking about were comitted by a fork lift driver, not a truck driver. The joke was more likely about Peter Sutcliff. Can we no longer make jokes about bad things in the past? No jokes about the war?

These people are being stupid, and as befor, the Top Gear prodution team will probably just say "F-Off". Good on them. As for Brand and Ross, they should not have done what they did. That was too far, leaving the messages on someones answer phone. Had they said the stuff on Air fine, but doing it like that was not on.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jimmy FTW!

Luckily nobody watches Jimmy Carr's shows or stand up. He can go waaaaaaaaay over the line...

<quote> (as close as I can remember)

"They say 9 out of 10 women kiss with their eyes closed, I guess that explains the low conviction rate for rape"

</quote>

Mine's the one with the fold out shovel, bag of lemons (they were out of lime) and the Scania keys...

[Ed Deckard]

Clueless Yank here

"Brian Tobin, director of The Iceni Project, "a charity which had helped some of the murdered prostitutes in Ipswich", described the gag as "highly distasteful and insensitive"."

How does one help murdered people, exactly?

[Neil Greatorex]

@The US wuvs him too! And The Stig!

AC:

"Shame BBC America has the episodes 8 months late."

1. Web hosting in the UK, £1.99 month, unlimited traffic.

2. Install web proxy.

3. iPlayer

Job done, but please remember to send your 140 squids to the beeb to cover the licence. Well worth it :-)

Paris, cos she loves a proxy. Allegedly.

[Neil Greatorex]

@ Rob Beard

"iTards"

Utter genius, I shall be using that one :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the IT angle?

3 of the biggest twats in the media are in trouble,

Brandt is gone, hooray he was an annoying idiot

(and double hooray because the resulting BBC attack on actor salaries is going to change the industry for the better and make certain no one ever wants to work with that juvenille again -that's right lovies, closer to average pay and no repeat fees, you know who made it possible.)

Woss is suspended with a £1million fine, big fkin deal. he reportedly gets over 6 mill a year, it might be incovienient but in the last year he's earned 1 million for every month of his suspension.

He's also an experienced broadcaster and should have seen the stunt for what it was, he has IMO commited a bigger offence than Brandt because he should no better.

He's also an annoying and regularly offensive twat who abuses his co workers, make an example because the response so far just cements his idea that the BBC need him more than he needs them and all they are doing is making a show of punishment because they have to.

Clarkson, well, yawn....

[Anonymous Coward]

Here we go again

168 complaints yesterday.

Today the press report about it.

Just on the news the number of complaints now is over 500??

wtf is up with people?

[Alan Fisher]

Points of View

Since the BBC got rid of this programme, these folks have had nothing to do! I used to love watching it, had some excellent comedic moments on it! Ok many of these were uninentional but hilarious all the same!!

[Steve Evans]

Where...?

Where can I go to complain that these complaining saddos really should get a life?!

This is top gear, not songs of praise... Had they never watched it before?

Sunday's truck driving was a hoot. I watched it with my brother who is a lorryist, and he almost dehydrated laughing at their attempts.

[Anonymous Coward]

Equal right to be offended?

I saw the program, thought the joke was only mildly amusing and made no complaint. BUT hope all those readers brushing this off as acceptable humour would afford the same right to a joke about any other section of society based on the past actions of one criminal:

e.g. "black man driving his beemer down the street, change gear, wind down tinted electric windows, murder innocent bystander in drive by shooting. "

Can't have double standards now can we?

[Neil Greatorex]

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, wish it were.

This is just stupid. Last I checked, BBC site says >500 complaints. How many people work at 5th gear, for fucks sake?

Sod Clarkson for PM, what about Chairman of the BBC Trust. Oh yes!

No icon, but I rather like the shape of her bottom too!

[b]

<burns down thread>

<sows ground with salt>

Next stop: HYS.

[Beelzeebub]

Iceni et al

Horrible truth alert and probably not PC.

Most news (apart from US election, plane/train/car/bus crashes, wars, celebs, serial killers, assasinations etc. etc.) is made by charidee announcements: that's how they get free publicity goddammit!

I watched the top gear prog and didn't even notice this comment, but I sure notice news stories that are really charity announcements.

[sheepdog]

Repeats

So, do you reckon we going to get the episode repeated on Dave?

[Stuart Page]

Stop taking offence already

I can't stand Clarkson because he's an unbearable cock, and I don't watch Top Gear because cars bore me shitless, however this was actually a pretty funny joke. Most jokes offend somebody. Get over it. I'm offended by all sorts of stuff - BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER. People who are offended by things should shut up and deal with it. Not everybody will have the same tastes, same opinions, same sense of humour. If you don't like it, don't listen. Shut up and stop whinging.

[yeah, right.]

popularity?

Maybe the low number of complaints denotes the relative popularity of the show?

[Ron Eve]

Any chance of a truck?

"I like trucking, I like trucking. I like to truck!"

There was a big outcry when this came out because of the hedgehog - yup, some folk actually thought it was real....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ozVxiQcqFQ8

[Foxhill]

Backlash campaigns

"This is top gear, not songs of praise... Had they never watched it before?"

Funnily enough there is an online campaigny type job going on in response to this to get people to complain about Songs of Praise. As the BBC says they take all complaints seriously, time to get some things off of your chest.

SHOW FSM ON SONGS OF PRAISE

[Anonymous Coward]

You've ruined it for me

I have been out of blighty on a business trip since Saturday. Really looking forward to my Top Gear fix when I get back and what happens? You go and ruin the whole experience for me. Now I won't get the chance to laugh at this joke in real time.

Thanks a bunch guys.

[Liam]

cool

if he gets canned the BBC can have their frikking licence fee and stick it up there arse. the only decent stuff the beeb does gets on dave after 6 months anyway so what am i playing for? to be the daily heil 'readers' bitch?

fuck em! just like the poor nazi slut woman - awww bless her and her nazi ways....

a woman rang up to complain from the national prostitutes institute.. wtf? isnt prostitution illegal in the UK? i mean they pay no tax like the rest of us do they? i cant imagine a spokesman from the national institute for tax evasion being so well treated would you?

these people need to get a life and fuck off. stop ruining everything with your stupid over sensitive attitude to everyone.

@ "Screw it, I'm off to complain about The IT Crowd, for propagating stereotypical views of the IT industry which, I for one, dont find in the least bit offensive, but someone somewhere might." - its just crap! lets get them sacked! /me jumps on the bandwagon <sigh>

[Sal]

Pah!

Clarkson is the Daily Mail personified for goodness sake, what are you lot defending him for? He's a dick. Granted, he's always been a dick, but that's no excuse for him continuing to be a dick.

People have a right to complain about something they bloody well pay for. All these "turn of if you don't like it' or 'fuck off and watch Sky' comments are obviously the utterances of long standing idiots who toss themselves off at the thought of a truck driver giving their mother just what she blatantly needs.

But hey, don't be offended by that comment, I'm always saying it.

[Piers]

Check mirror?

Not when changing lane they don't.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Repeats

"So, do you reckon we going to get the episode repeated on Dave?"

Dave yes, BBC3 no. As you might've noticed, BBC3 pull contentious episodes from their repeat schedule, which means any old whinger can effectively ban Top Gear episodes at will. I was damn near foaming at the mouth when they pulled the Hammond crash episode from the last loop through the repeat run.

[Anonymous Coward]

how hard can it be?

at the beginning of the segment, Clarkson asked, How hard can it be? in regards to driving a HGV. He made quips about getting out of bed, sitting down, sitiing down all day, then going home... All jokes aside, by the end of the section, he said, "its bloody hard driving a truck" and gave the respect due to truck drivers.

in the process of demonstrating how hard it actually is, he made jokes about getting sodomised by the gear stick, (where's the complaints about that) as well as other nonsense... that without the humor would have made the segment into a boring public service film, but instead made it into a good informative segment about all the stresses of driving HGV's along with the dangers...

and for all the people that complain,,,, go fuck yourselves.... with the afore mentioned gear sticks...

[Anonymous Coward]

@<burns down thread>

Can I help you on that one ? Its one of the reasons I no longer even look at HYS.

I watched it and wasn't offended. Just how easy is it to complain at Ofcom? People obviously have too much time on their hands.

Wonder what else is going on in the UK/world that is being missed whilst people are ranting on about this?

[Gareth Jones]

Complaints Filtering

There seems to be something of a problem of organized complaints where some organization, usually the Daily Mail, encourages large numbers of people to complain. In order to filter out this sort of crap the BBC and Ofcom should refuse to consider any complaint that comes in more than, say, 15 minutes after the item was broadcast.

And to anybody who thinks this is too restrictive I say, "If you're so incensed complain straight away. If it can't wait twenty minutes it's not really worth a complaint."

There was talk of 200 complaints. TG regularly gets 5m or more viewers, so we're supposed to listen to the views of 0.004% of those people? In what way does this reflect the wishes of licence fee payers? The licence fee payers should get to choose what is acceptable, and the tiny tiny percentage who disapprove should change to one of the BBC's other channels.

Perhaps they ought to replace one of their minority channels with BBC Safe, a channel featuring only programs with Penelope Keith and/or Richard Briers.

In all seriousness I am totally puzzled by those who feel inclined to complain when a program offends them. It is clearly some sort of paranoia (in the correct sense of the word) that makes them think their views are so important that the BBC should have to change its output to fit in with them.

[Aetyr]

Tasteless joke alert!

"a charity which had helped some of the murdered prostitutes in Ipswich"

Might I tread on risky ground and ask someone to reconsider that wording?

I mean, surely they meant "the family of the murdered prostitutes"? I don't really think there's much you can do to help a murdered prostitute, unless you happen to have the page from Jesus' Book of Magic Tricks which explains how he managed to come back from the dead...

[Steen Hive]

How about

Everyone here gets everyone they know to formally complain to the Press Complaints Commission about *every single* piece-of-shit article that appears in the fucking Daily Mail each and every day. Needs a few volunteers to whip up the templates, and everyone else can download them and pop them off to the PCC en masse.

That'll stop their farting in church, the bastards.

[RogueElement]

A Subtle Difference

There is a small and curiously subtle difference between Mr Clarkson's jibe and the abuse metted out by Bland and Woss... I found the former humorous (albeit a tad riskee) and laughed; the latter was at no time or in any way entertaining. Am I to assume that the IT angle is the telephone that these people used in order to lodge their complaints?

Oh, and if there are any truck drivers out there reading this, I'm one of the few who deliberately flashes his headlights to say you've cleared me and are safe to pull in.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Liam...

"a woman rang up to complain from the national prostitutes institute.. wtf? isnt prostitution illegal in the UK? i mean they pay no tax like the rest of us do they? i cant imagine a spokesman from the national institute for tax evasion being so well treated would you?"

You don't know what you're talking about. Prostitution is not illegal in the UK and is taxable just like any other income. "Making a living off the immoral earnings" of _others_ is illegal - so pimps and brothels are illegal, but prostitutes working independently aren't.

Paris because I reckon she has a better understanding of tax than you do.

[Anonymous Coward]

Murdered Prostitutes

Brian Tobin, director of The Iceni Project, "a charity which had helped some of the murdered prostitutes in Ipswich", described the gag as "highly distasteful and insensitive"...

Just exactly what help does a murdered prostitute need?