Officieel: Clarkson weg bij BBC, incl. statement en feiten [updated]

Zojuist heeft de BBC bekendgemaakt dat het inderdaad over en sluiten is voor de boomlange schenenschopper die Jeremy Clarkson heet. Na verschillende akkefietjes rondom racistische uitspraken en z’n martial arts-demo wegens een gebrek aan warm vlees is de maat nu vol. Het contract van de presentator wordt niet verlengd, wat nu ook door de BBC zelf naar buiten is gebracht.

Bij dergelijke beslissingen hoort een officieel statement, we geven het woord aan Tony Hall:

It is with great regret that I have told Jeremy Clarkson today that the BBC will not be renewing his contract. It is not a decision I have taken lightly. I have done so only after a very careful consideration of the facts and after personally meeting both Jeremy and Oisin Tymon.

I am grateful to Ken MacQuarrie for the thorough way he has conducted an investigation of the incident on 4th March. Given the obvious and very genuine public interest in this I am publishing the findings of his report. I take no pleasure in doing so. I am only making them public so people can better understand the background. I know how popular the programme is and I also know that this decision will divide opinion. The main facts are not disputed by those involved.

I want to make three points.

First – The BBC is a broad church. Our strength in many ways lies in that diversity. We need distinctive and different voices but they cannot come at any price. Common to all at the BBC have to be standards of decency and respect. I cannot condone what has happened on this occasion. A member of staff – who is a completely innocent party – took himself to Accident and Emergency after a physical altercation accompanied by sustained and prolonged verbal abuse of an extreme nature. For me a line has been crossed. There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank, or public relations and commercial considerations.

Second – This has obviously been difficult for everyone involved but in particular for Oisin. I want to make clear that no blame attaches to him for this incident. He has behaved with huge integrity throughout. As a senior producer at the BBC he will continue to have an important role within the organisation in the future.

Third – Obviously none of us wanted to find ourselves in this position. This decision should in no way detract from the extraordinary contribution that Jeremy Clarkson has made to the BBC. I have always personally been a great fan of his work and Top Gear. Jeremy is a huge talent. He may be leaving the BBC but I am sure he will continue to entertain, challenge and amuse audiences for many years to come.

The BBC must now look to renew Top Gear for 2016. This will be a big challenge and there is no point in pretending otherwise. I have asked Kim Shillinglaw to look at how best we might take this forward over the coming months. I have also asked her to look at how we put out the last programmes in the current series.

Het slechte nieuws: Jezza moet echt weg en het gaat dus niet om een vervroegde 1 april-grap. Het goede nieuws: er wordt gekeken naar mogelijkheden om de resterende afleveringen alsnog uit te zenden. Bovendien wil de BBC in 2016 verdergaan met de show, al zal eerst een nieuwe invulling moeten worden bedacht. Nee, Chris Evans is niet in beeld als mogelijke vervanger van Clarkson.

Zoals bekend is uitgebreid onderzoek gedaan naar wat zich precies op die bewuste 4 maart heeft afgespeeld. Om voor eens en altijd met alle speculaties af te rekenen lees je hieronder de belangrijkste bevindingen van het onderzoek:

– earlier on 4 March, studio recording of Top Gear had taken place in Surrey and the presenters
had travelled that same evening to the location shoot in North Yorkshire;
– the incident occurred on a patio area of the Simonstone Hall Hotel, where Oisin Tymon was working on location for Top Gear;
– the physical attack lasted around 30 seconds and was halted by the intervention of a witness;
– it is the case that Oisin Tymon offered no retaliation;
– the verbal abuse was directed at Oisin Tymon on more than one occasion – both during the attack and subsequently inside the hotel – and contained the strongest expletives and threats to sack him. The abuse was at such volume as to be heard in the dining room, and the shouting was audible in a hotel bedroom;
– derogatory and abusive language, relating to Oisin Tymon and other members of the Top Gear team, continued to be used by Jeremy Clarkson inside the hotel, in the presence of others, for a sustained period of time;
– it is clear that Oisin Tymon was shocked and distressed by the incident, and believed that he had lost his job;
– following the attack, I understand that Oisin Tymon drove to a nearby A&E department for examination;
– over the subsequent days, Jeremy Clarkson made a number of attempts to apologise to Oisin Tymon by way of text, email and in person; and
– it is the case that Jeremy Clarkson reported the incident to BBC management.

U hoopte op een olifant met een grote snuit? Helaas. In navolging van de eerdere petities hebben enkele diehards een petitie online geslingerd, voor de fans die graag zouden zien dat Jezza, Hamster en Captain Slow hun eigen autoshow via Netflix krijgen. Uw steun betuigt u hier.

UPDATE 1: Uiteraard houden we voor jullie in de gaten wat de overige twee leden van het Top Gear-trio te melden hebben omtrent de recente ontwikkelingen. In onderstaande video krijgt James May een microfoon onder z’n neus gedrukt, die aangeeft z’n Ferrari alvast op eBay te zetten. Op de vraag hoe hij het vervolg van de show voor zich ziet antwoordt May niet heel eenduidig.

UPDATE 2: Ook Richard Hammond laat van zich horen, ditmaal via twitter:

UPDATE 3: Nu de BBC klaar is met Clarkson neemt de popo het over. De politie van North Yorkshire heeft de info van het BBC onderzoek opgevraagd en zal indien nodig maatregelen treffen. Meer info in dit artikel.

PS: Op zoek naar wat leuke video-items van Clarkson? Check onze 12 geweldige fragmenten uit Top Gear.