Jeremy Clarkson - "Strikers Should Be Executed"

    On 30th November Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson appeared on BBC One's primetime show 'The One Show.' However no-one was expecting what was gonig to be said on that day. Jeremy seemed very pleased with the strikers as he joked that "there was no traffic on the roads" yet all of a sudden Clarkson expressed his feelings which shocked the whole nation. He all of a sudden turned on the strikers and said "Frankly, I would have them shot. I would have them taken outside and executed in front of their families."  From one satirical comment made by Mr. Clarkson the whole nation went into uproar which ended up in the BBC receiving over 21,000 complaints about what Clarkson had said.

Here is a transcript of what was said between the presenters and Mr. Clarkson


This is a short video of the main comment that Mr. Clarkson had said that upset thousands of people who were on strike

    The One Show presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones cringed after the comments made by Clarkson which to me showed the seriousness of such a satirical comment. Soon after this comment politicians decided that they needed to express their views on Mr. Clarkson's opinions. Labour leader Ed Miliband stated that the comment was "absolutely disgraceful and disgusting." Ed also went on to say that "He obviously does not understand the lives of the people who were going out on strike yesterday." Not only did the politicians act upon what was said, but also Unison (the public sector union group) decided they had to have a say.

    Unison called upon the BBC to have Mr. Clarkson to be sacked and also contemplated reporting Clarkson to the police for possibly encouraging violence. Dave Prentis, Unison's general secretary said "The One Show is broadcast at a time when children are watching: they could have been scared and upset by his aggressive statements." This is a possibility but it does depend on the amount children watching the program at the time, one way to solve this problem would be to move The One Show to a 9pm slot but what would this do to their ratings as other channels have television programs which could challenge for viewers. at this time of the day.

    With the nation now focusing all of it's attention on Mr. Clarkson, a decision had to be made. The decison that was made was that Clarkson would apologise over his comments that were made on The One Show. At 5pm on 1st December Jeremy Clarkson issued his apology. Clarkson said "I didn’t for a moment intend these remarks to be taken seriously – as I believe is clear if they’re seen in context. If the BBC and I have caused any offence, I’m quite happy to apologise for it alongside them."
   
    The BBC inevitably issued a statement about the recent event and they said "The One Show is a live topical programme which often reflects the day’s talking points. Usually we get it right, but on this occasion we feel the item wasn’t perfectly judged. The BBC and Jeremy would like to apologise for any offence caused."

    Clarkson has been in trouble many times over comments he has said on his car show Top Gear. Previous comments include that all lorry drivers "murder a prostitute", insults towards the Mexicans and he also called Gordon Brown a "one-eyed Scottish idiot." All these comments landed him in hot water but that has never stopped him, he is just speaking his mind and us as the nation explode into uproar, he's got away with it before so he'll get away with it all the time. In my opinion he's speaking the truth about the pensions the strikers are on but it was uncalled for saying the strikers should be executed infront of their families. At least he has apologised along with the BBC and hopefully everyone can get back to working ways and Mr. Clarkson can carry on filming Top Gear and working for the BBC.