I’m not a fan of Top Gear. I watch it occasionally on BBC America, and whenever one of our favorite men comes on (Hiddles, Cumby), I’ll seek out the clips on YouTube, but otherwise… I just don’t get why Top Gear is a thing. It’s a guy thing, I guess. It’s just about cars and stunts and how to drive through various countries and the host, Jeremy Clarkson, seems like a neo-colonialist buffoon sometimes. Still, Clarkson has his defenders and I get the impression that a lot of people like him. Anyway, there’s a scandal. The Daily Mirror got their hands on some “unseen footage” from the past season of Top Gear, and they claim Clarkson dropped the n-word casually, on camera:
Jeremy Clarkson’s use of the n-word in unseen footage from the filming of Top Gear has drawn huge criticism. In the unseen footage – which was later edited out of the show – the £1million a year TV host is seen swinging his finger between two cars, while reciting a racist version of a children’s counting rhyme. Clarkson can be heard chanting: “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…” He then mumbles: “Catch a n***** by his toe”.
Apparently, in the footage that aired in February 2013, Clarkson used the word “teacher,” like they dubbed that scene. At first, Clarkson tweeted this:
I did not use the n word. Never use it. The Mirror has gone way too far this time.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) May 1, 2014
And then for about a day, everyone was just wringing their hands. James May tweeted: “Jeremy Clarkson is not a racist. He is a monumental bellend and many other things, but not a racist. I wouldn’t work with one. #ThatIsAll.” (Sidenote: I had never heard the word “bellend” so I had to look it up.) Even prime minister David Cameron had to remark about it because he’s tight with Clarkson. Cameron’s spokesperson said: “Any usage of that word would be quite wrong. If there are these reports and allegations, I am sure that is something the BBC would look at.”
Then yesterday, Clarkson posted a video on his Twitter explaining what had happened.
His explanation? That he had done three takes: two takes by mumbling through the part of the rhyme which uses the n-word, then one take using “teacher.” He says that in post-production, he watched the mumbling version and thought that it sounded like he was mumbling the n-word, so he asked producers to take it out. So… he did use the word, but he didn’t mean to? WTF? Here’s a good rule of thumb: if you don’t want to use the n-word, don’t do a bit where you have to “mumble” the n-word. Right? That seems pretty obvious.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
umm he’s sort of an idiot but I dont’ think he’s that stupid.
He’s a buffoon and an idiot, but I don’t think he’s not that stupid either…
Saying the word doesn’t make one a racist, but I wouldn’t put it past him to use the word. People like that will do and say things, when they are around ‘friends’. And remember this is the same man who made the comment to Benedict Cumberbatch about wanking to pictures his mother.
Is he british?
From what I have gathered from my british friends, it is used pretty casually over there, and isn’t as taboo (doesn’t mean its ok, but is a bit of an explanation).
PN – sorry, I can’t respond directly to your comment, but this Brit disagrees with your friends vehemently. Nobody I know uses the n-word, nobody, let alone casually – it is absolutely taboo. If I heard anyone use it in jest I’d reassess their character, to say the least; if they said it in anger, I’d want nothing more to do with them. It’s just not a word you use unless you’re a racist.
Yes, I’m married to an Irishman and he’d agree it’s a word that isn’t used, ever. However, he DID say that he had always heard that nursery rhyme with the n-word in it. In the US, I learned it was “catch a tiger by the toe,” and he told me he’d never heard of that. I think Jeremy might have said the n-word in the clip, but knew he didn’t want to say it in the broadcast for a million reasons, and I think he really does feel like sh*t about it. I’ve never seen or heard of him apologizing for the other obnoxious stuff he and the Hamster have said (thinking of the comments about Mexicans that were SO bad), so I think he’s being genuine.
The sad thing is that there are tons of people defending him on twitter. He said that he tried his very hardest not to use the word. The struggle is real, guys.
Didn’t he mummble teacher, but it sounded like the n-word so they bleeped it in post?
I really like Jeremy and Top Gear, I hope this isn’t true.
poor racists. it’s just so hard for them not to say racist things.
I’m not defending or accusing him, but I believe he learned the original verse which uses the n word, so if this claim was true, he was trying to avoid defaulting to something he learned as a child, when many people were insensitive, oblivious, or racist. That is what I gathered from a lot of commenters on the Guardian yesterday.
@K
when you have a history of racist/sexist/homophobic speech, as clarkson does, then i don’t really feel compelled to give you the benefit of the doubt that you accidentally defaulted to something you learned 40+ years ago. generations of people learned the song that way, i can’t imagine most of them would still say it.
I haven’t heard of his history of racism. I will need to look into that.
I do sympathize with people repeating things from childhood. When I look back at some of the songs that we used to do the hand clap things in elementary, it makes me feel such shame! Does anyone remember the thing that went “(certain racial group) sitting on a bench, trying to make a dollar out of 85 cents”? So terrible!
Then there is also other phrases like “gyp” (as in “he gypped me out of my money”), which have roots in racism. Gyp is short for Gypsy. I said it for a long time before I realised what it meant.
Sputnik
Those are some pretty serious accusations and you’ve posted nothing to back them up. I hope to see a link from you to a non-bias article stating facts to support your statement.
@Florc
a small selection:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12338053
http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/454517/Jeremy-Clarkson-apologises-for-tweeting-image-of-himself-with-a-sign-reading-gay-c-t
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/28/top-gear-jeremy-clarkson-racist-joke-allegation-burma-bbc
there are plenty more if you have a look. or you could skip and go to the wikipedia page that exists solely for top gear controversies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_controversies
these are accusations that are aimed at clarkson frequently.
Struggle is real.
Bahahahahahahahhaha WORD.
Is t it tiger? Catch a tiger by the toe? I don’t get the dilemma for him.
I mean, I don’t think it sounded like tiger exactly, but it also could be an issue with the recording. Where they amp up the sound on the bits to show it, it does sound kind of distorted.
I don’t know. I don’t watch the show, don’t even really know who the guy is. But I wonder if the recording was edited at all, or if it’s bad quality audio.
If he did say it, and it kind of sounds like he did, then he deserves backlash.
Oh- I didn’t mean I thought it sounded like tiger- I thought the song went tiger and don’t know how he struggled with saying the n word or teacher- teacher? Really?? Haha!
That is how I learned it, I always liked the visual it gave me to “catch a tiger by his toe”
We learnt that version at school too, and then it morphed into Tigger when someone had an obsession with Winnie the Pooh.
Quite like James May’s tweet about the situation.
Even I knew that old rhyme had tiger switched with that n… word. This is nothing new and he’s said nothing wrong. I don’t see the deal here.
I learned it as “tiger”, in the US in the 80s.
I believe many people of his generation, in the UK, learned the verse with the n-word, and it was later changed. I learned it as “tiger.”
Well there’s one nursery rhyme I’m no longing going to teach my kids.
The Sixlets learned ten little tigers, too. In the UK, in the 00s. There’s no excuse to use the other one now, if that’s what Clarkson did.
The original title of an Agatha Christie novel was Ten Little N-words – after a (now unused, obviously) rhyme that was similar to Ten Green Bottles (Hanging on a Wall).
Sadly, the Sixlets also love Clarkson and Top Gear. I would concur with May that he is a bellend (I love that insult) but I’m not using it in May’s mockingly affectionate way. He’s a horrible, horrible man and continually represents for all the worst aspects of Britishness. We Brits are, by and large, better than him, thankyouverymuch. Or at least, I bloody well hope we are.
It’s originally not tiger, it’s N****r. It’s only been in the last 15/20 years that’s it’s been tiger. I’m only 37 and in my day it was the N word. We didn’t even know what a n****r was as 5 yr olds!
Very disappointed. My husband loves Top Gear and I’ve watched it a lot. I always thought he was nice. I’m so tired of being disappointed.
I’m not disappointed if he let that slip because he’s been known to be an idiot for quite a time… I can’t stand him so whatever… but.. well, my hubby watches Top Gear too, I’ve to hear his remarks anyway :/
you thought the man who said public sector workers should be shot, called gordon brown a “one-eyed, Scottish idiot” and got caught up in racism scandals in india, mexico and most recently asia was a “nice man”? that’s not even going near the multiple examples of sexism and homophobia in his show, twitter and public interviews. perhaps you need to need to recalibrate what you think of as nice, then you won’t be so disappointed. i mean, it’s not even his first race storm this year. the last one was in march.
Obviously, I didn’t know any of that. My only knowledge of him comes from the times I’ve seen the show, where he comes across as sort of a bumbling but nice guy. I’m afraid I neglected to spend my time researching his past remarks and behavior. Thanks for your bitter sarcasm, though. I find that so helpful in discussions.
wow sputnik, you’re pretty nice yourself.
Clarkson’s always been an outspoken dick, and embraces it as his ‘thing’. A lot of his humor is questionable, but the only truly atrocious incident was the ‘Mexican’ car, and the blame for that lies squarely with all three hosts, not just Clarkson. And one thing has been consistent: for every perceived incident, there hasn’t been any sweeping under the rug – for better or for worse they’ve said ‘we think its funny and was a harmless joke’. The Top Gear guys wear their dickishness on their sleeves (which also includes the fact that Clarkson is VERY anti-government regulation, and is pretty outspoken about his politics).
@ GoodNamesAllTaken
sorry, he’s very famous for being like this and i was incredulous that someone who has been in repeated scandals could be seen as anything like nice. there are people who like him because they think he’s “edgy” or funny, but he’s always on or crossing a line. obviously i’m looking at it from a uk bias where we hear one of these scandals every few months. i’m sorry, i didn’t mean to come off as rude or bitter. it was just blowing my mind that people seemed shocked.
@sputnik, thanks for understanding. He’s not very famous over here in the States, so I didn’t know about all of this. I can tell by other comments that he is well known for being all kinds of a jerk, do I see why you thought I was crazy to say he was nice.
I am in the same boat with GoodNames. I am a fan of the show, and have never heard about his other issues…he just isn’t covered in the US. Honestly, I don’t even really know his name other than as the guy from Top Gear.
I have really loved the wine/beer tasting series that James May (also on Top Gear) has done, especially the one on California wineries.
GoodNames
I’m in the states and love Top Gear. It’s hardly a show just for guys. Although some episodes that are heavy on the cars and less on the comedy aren’t for me.
Sputnik has a heavy bias here. So do i for that matter. JC is set in another time and culture. Yes, he’s outspoken, but not hatefully so imo.
They just have an axe to grind. Friends I have in the UK just confirm he speaks out of turn, but isn’t hateful or a threatening man. Just more of an old Grandfather from another time that still says things in public you wish they wouldn’t for PC purposes. Not to be racist or sexist.
He’s just a character both on screen and off.
It’s the same as attacking Stephen Colbert for his crazy right wing rants and that asian comment.
People need to settle down and just don’t watch if they disapprove.
@GoodNamesAllTaken ”
“Thanks for your bitter sarcasm, though. I find that so helpful in discussions.” I wish I hadn’t had a mouthful of MuddyBuddies when I read that. Not only did I cough a cloud of powdered sugar dust, but it also went out my nose and I think I inhaled some as well. Can I borrow that phrase? I think it would be useful.
@FLORC
At a certain point we need to stop excusing people because they are from ‘another time’. No one would excuse an anti-semite. But if its against women or blacks, they get a pass. I also don’t see the use of that word as anything other than hateful. Oh and Steven Colbert is playing a PART. A CHARACTER. This guy is playing himself. Difference.
All of this. ^
Clarkson’s a dick – it’s practically his thing. He definitely walks a very fine line between crass and offensive, though a scandal that he may or may not have mumbled the n-word feels a little far fetched. Now, if the tapes come out and it’s clear as a bell then I’ll be happy to reverse my position, but as of right now Clarkson remains an ass.
I have never heard of the show or this guy. Is this big?
It has a pretty big sort of cult following among men. All my husband’s friends watch it. It can be pretty funny but can also be boring, imo.
It completely escaped my radar. I was watching “Copper’ on BBC America, but then lost interest, or couldn’t keep track of when it was on, or something or other.
Female followers as well. I love the show for its crass humour but if anything of this is true, I’m going to be sad and disappointed.
Shijel is right,of course, it just happens that the people I know who like it are men
Hello.
Some of the projects they’ve done have been pretty cool to watch – turning a car into a boat is probably my favorite – and their travel specials are really interesting. And I accidentally re-watched the one with the wounded vet racing team, which is such a great story. My husband LOVES Top Gear, so I’ve seen a lot.
My son LOVES this show. Tapes and watches/re-watches but he is 13.
My dad’s been watching this show for the better part of ten to fifteen years, it’s huge in the UK and I think it has a following in the US as well.
I thinh it’s the most broadcasted show in the world.
Yep,
“Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars, and is the world’s most widely watched factual television programme.”
I love it. I don’t care about car, but Clarkson, Hammond and May have the best chemistry among TV presenters I have ever seen, and they tend to be very sarcastic. It’s good fun.
Okay, so I am a big dopey dope who knows NOTHING. Nothing, I tell ya!
Hello, Good Morning, etc.
No, Kiddo. See above. I am so stupid I don’t even know what “nice” means. Lol
Yeah! You need to look up “nice” in the dictionary and sh*t.
I guess we’re supposed to be carefully vetting every actor, talk show host etc before we decide to tune in.
Good morning O’Kitt.
Join the stu-ped club.
I r president of the stu-ped club.
Dumbasses, all of you.
Takes one to know one, *nanner nanner nanner nanner (*sing-songy style).
I know you are, but what am I?
You could be the queen.
I am The Queen of Awesome, morons.
You are misinformed.
GoodNamesAllTaken says:
May 2, 2014 at 10:56 am
You are misinformed.
The end
@TheOriginalKitten, Take out the comma, and voila, you are The Queen of Awesome Morons. We should start ourselves a band, I’m liking the name.
Fine. But I get to be lead singer.
You can play the tambourine and GoodNames….well, she can just dance or something…I really don’t trust her musical abilities.
A singer, a tambourine player, and a dancer-there’s no way we won’t score a record deal.
Lol you haven’t seen me dance. I’ll pay for the t-shirts.
Can I play — Can I play?? I would really be an asset to the band. Back in the day I had a band & it was awesome fun. I can play guitar, keyboard & accompany Kitten on vocals. I suggest we do classic rock.
Can I be the hype man on stage? I am really good at running around, shouting things like “BALLS”. 😉
You can join, Cecelia..but I can’t have you on vocals–this is about me me me me.
MY Band.
Mine.
Kitten & The Awesome Morons.
Do you have a keyboard? More importantly is it Casio and what kind of demo songs do you have?
My voice would sound great over a demo of Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are.”
@TheOriginalKitten, So basically we are either a drunken-crying-jag-overly-sentimental-band or we play crappy wedding gigs? You just know we’re going to run into Robin Thicke. I just can’t abide, dude.
@Tiffany :), you can throw yourself off the stage onto big bouncing balls.
Now you’re too good to play weddings?
There can be only one ego in this band and that’s me so consider yourself officially kicked out of the band.
GoodNames will have to play tambourine and dance as well.
This could get…….messy.
If I leave the band, the balls come with me.
I already wrote a song, I can’t leave. It’s called, “Hey what’s up with George and his girl, I can’t get enough of it?”. Maybe it needs to be shortened.
Kitten…Do I have a keyboard?? errrr…I will strap my Baby Grand to my back if I have to. She is an awesome Petrof & I refuse to play anything else. I have 2 guitars & am willing to share one with you but only if I get to accompany you on vocals. I am firm about this. If you’re going to be pissy, I will sneak up & drown you out.
Another day, another racist, it seems.
That’s exactly what it seems like.
His explanation is he didn’t use the word (mumbling around it sort of like when I’m singing along to a Kanye song but just mush the word when that word shows up) but it sounded like the word so he asked for it to be cut. As far as I understand, there’s a version of that rhyme that uses the n word (Which is bizarre because I was always taught catch a tiger by its toe).
Not defending him if he actually said it with the racist intent (don’t know enough about him to say one way or the other) but I can buy the explanation of mindlessly saying it as a part of a song because it happens to me too. I’ve never considered myself a racist but maybe this means I am.
This is an interesting history on the poem:
Rudyard Kipling popularized the offensive version in 1935:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe
Well yeah except there are others on this board saying that he has a history of making racist or insensitive comments.
Plus the n-word is in a class of it’s own. If you feel comfortable even mumbling that word then I strongly question that.
“Plus the n-word is in a class of it’s own. If you feel comfortable even mumbling that word then I strongly question that.”
This. I mean, mumbling it implies that you want people to hear you and understand that you’re saying the n word, you just can’t SAY it because you know damn well it’s wrong. It’s like that thing kids do when they say “f*** you” under their breath and then insist they didn’t swear, they said vacuum. They want the cheeky thrill but not the telling-off.
But if you don’t want people to think you’re a racist then don’t say racist things, ever. It’s not rocket science.
I have never heard the n-word version of this rhyme in my life – when I was a kid it was tiger-by-the-toe – but my mother (roughly Clarkson’s age) says it was standard when she was a kid, and nobody thought anything of it. She would of course not dream of saying it now, but then, unlike Clarkson, my mother isn’t an attention-seeking tit.
@LB – that was what I got from his explanation as well. Seems plausible. And I, too, learned this rhyme as ‘tiger’- seems so strange to hear other versions of it.
I never say the word, just never, even if I am singing by myself in the car to the radio. But I have to shamefully admit…a couple years ago the Dr. Dre song The Next Episode was on while I was on a party bus after a few drinks, and it accidentally came out of my mouth (after the “Whoopty Woo” part). Unfortunately I was around people. No one said anything, but it haunts me to this day. I feel horribly guilty about it because I know that was the last word some people heard before they had their lives taken from them. So much history in one word.
This sounds so exhausting.
Clarkson is an utter asshole. It wouldnt surprise me if he was racist. This guy has long history of saying crap about other cultures. I loathe that mothy dbag.
I like TopGear but it can feel a little repetitive after afew episodes. The stylised filming of the cars is cool if you arent having to view back to back episodes. And the stunts (racing god knows what in god knows what remote corner of Europe) always feel like they’ve done this before
My husband and kids love this show. Jeremy is an idiot, so I believe this. My question is does England have the same issues as America regarding civil rights and residual anger over slavery? I’ve just always thought black people were treated better over there.
My dad’s black and my mum’s white and they experienced a lot of hatred when they got together in the late 70s. And even as recently as a year ago, a bunch of young white guys shouted to my dad for him to go back to his country (which is ironic seeing as he’s lived in the UK since he was 20, and even served why the RAF and he’s a naturalised British citizen). And I feel like there is a lot of thinly veiled racism within the immigration debate over here in the UK (not by everyone, but definitely a significant number of people). So in a nutshell, racism is still alive and well in the UK.
Sorry to hear that Dani!! People suck! :/
@Dani2
Especially now, wtf with all the hatred against EU citizens… it’s not even racism.. nationalism? 🙁
Xenophobia?
How many times has Jeremy Clarkson been accused of racism? It seems to happen at least once a year, and if it’s not racism, it’s sexism or poking fun at disabled people. The man is constantly offending people and loves doing it. He’s apologizing this time because he knows he’s crossed a line that he may not be able to slither back over. You should never, ever have to try really hard not to use a racial slur, if it’s not in your vocabulary then it won’t slip out.
this is the second time in two months. it’s beyond me that people are acting surprised about this. it’s like no one ever heard him speak before.
Well, here is one who never heard him speak, never saw him and, unbelieveable but true, never ever heard of him before and will most likely not even rembember him after I finish this sentence.
@ dagdag
lucky you.
I know.
At least you guys have public shaming for using the word and everyone seems to agree it´s wrong. Here where I live people use the word even in newspapers and claim it comes from the latin word “negro” and isn´t all that demeaning and bad… Which enrages me every f***ing time it happens.
wow! where do you live?
I’ve enjoyed Top Gears for long time, but lately they’ve jumped the shark.
I think Jeremy is a total a-hole so I believe he used the “n-word”, he is the kind of entertainer who
always balance himself between politically un-correctness and total rudeness/racism etc. etc.
For the record I worship Capitain Slow (I watch also James May Toy Story) !
May is just… May is. May is good, May is great, May IS.
You know he is the only celebrity I’d love to go out for dinner with. Seriously I could listen him talking for HOURS. Ooooh.
LOL I thought I was the only one who swooned for James May’s voice. 🙂
Is there room for one more at your hypothetical dinner? Because I would love to meet him, too!
Did you see any of his wine and beer tour shows? He did a road trip through France and California wineries. They were charming and informative.
Oh, man, now you’ve beaten me to it! I thought Dinner with May was MY private fantasy!!!
@Tiffany: no but now I would look for them!
@BooBoo: Not only his voice but I am really amazed by the things he says; he seems someone really cultivated. Intelligence and culture are always sexy for me 😀
@MacScore&GreenGirl: dinner with May, honesty I haven’t thought about inviting other people, you know that’s my fantasy. Me and May.
Captain
Slow! May is awesome.
right I am Italian and I live in France and seriously I don’t know how to write properly even in my own motherlanguage 😛
The man is an idiot. He used the “n” word. And he also made a “joke” about a “slope” on a bridge, which was clearly offensive.
Yeah. I was gonna bring up “slope” as well. I’m starting to see a pattern…
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs
I’m actually surprised that he’s trying to defend himself. He’s such an asshole I’m amazed he even addressed the issue.
GoodNames… He is nice as far as we know. As nice as any other human being, I’m sure. Does he potentially only know the offensive version of a nursery rhyme? Maybe. He has a rolling brain that’s picked up all sorts of nonsensical lint like everyone else we know. Some lint sticks whether we want it too or not.
I’m sick of people throwing stones in their glass houses.
Either way – he did NOT say it. Watch the video and notice that he mumbled through just about the entire thing to avoid saying it. And – this mumbling version is still an out-take in an effort to avoid potentially offending people! Some days I wish every human being that screams how offended they are could have a camera crew follow them around 24-7 to see how offense-free these saints are living.
Because of this blip – so many people won’t even watch the video – they’ll go ahead and assume now that this guy is a horrible, Nazi-like human being deserving of a lost job and complete reputation destruction because he mumbled a distasteful rhyme…
No matter how angry people get – the word exists and will always exist. As a matter of fact, I think the word has far more power today than it ever did thanks to this kind of idiocy.
+ 1
I am really getting sick of this. Giving a word so much power to make or break someone. How about not giving it so much attention? How about no one should use this out-dated slur. What place does it have in our society at this point in time?
MYTbean I kind of agree in what you are saying
While I agree with the fact that we can’t really tell if he said it (I watched it three times and couldn’t tell wtf he was mumbling), I disagree with your last statement—
“No matter how angry people get – the word exists and will always exist. As a matter of fact, I think the word has far more power today than it ever did thanks to this kind of idiocy.”
The N-word still has power, because guess what, it’s only been recently i.e. within the last fifty years, that that sort of language hasn’t been acceptable. And beyond that, it’s more than just a word, it encompasses an entire lifestyle (for lack of a better word). When we were n*****s, we couldn’t vote. Had to get off the sidewalk if a white person came walking by us. Couldn’t go into nice restaurants or stores, no matter how much money we had. That’s what my grandmother–who was a young woman during the Great Depression–had to go through (especially as someone who was ‘high yellow’).
It’s very easy to say that we give a word too much power, when you haven’t had to go all that encompasses it. It’s more than just a word.
+100000
I don’t know, Mytbean, I just wish people would stop using it, period. There’s no need to and it hurts people. I watched the video, and while he slurs through the word, you can tell that’s the word he means. That’s not the original version of the ditty, you know. It was someone’s idea of a joke. Why is he even using it? I’m disappointed in him and I stand by that.
I totally agree. It’s just a word. He probably didn’t actually say it. If he did say it he said it in the context of a rhyme he would have learned as a child (and I’ve personally never heard the ‘tiger’ version people are talking about, that must be an American thing). He didn’t use it to describe a person. It’s not like he was inciting lynch mobs.
Also, If I turn on the music channel on my TV I will probably hear someone saying that word within five minutes. Yet somehow that’s ok. Curious.
+1
I can only hope the women kidnapped in Nigeria are found safe, as fast as possible.
Keep it real folks.
Agree! Can we stop looking for the plane for a while and look for these schoolgirls who are alive and desperate for help? So awful!
We have the resources to do both.
What a douche. I used to love him and now I don’t. There is no excuse for ANY non-Black person to use that word. I can’t say I’m surprised by all his sympathisers. Closet racists will always support each other.
…You think it’s ok for black people to use that word? If it’s bad, it’s bad – it doesn’t matter who says it. I honestly think that the reason the word is still so prevalent in our society is because black people throw it around like it’s something to be proud of it. Honestly, if black people didn’t use it, I probably never would’ve heard it before. But, as it is, it’s everywhere – in movies, in rap music, etc. And, honestly, not ONCE have I heard a non-black person in real life say it, but I’ve heard black people say it all the time.
I feel like people are trying to change the world and trying to make it better, but setting up these stupid specific rules regarding certain things are just bound to be broken. If the “n-word” isn’t ok, then nobody should use it. We shouldn’t need a list of the kinds of people that can use it. What the hell is that? Our society is striving for equality – getting rid of separate rules for separate people and it’s truly ironic that this of all things is still an issue.
LASTLY, I think what he’s saying is that the traditional way of saying it is with the racist term. However, in countries like the US that are embroiled with issues of racism, we’ve nixed it earlier on with the word “tiger”. However, culturally, things are different in the UK. Funnily enough, because they don’t have the same issues of racism there as they do here, the “n-word” has persisted longer. So, what Jeremy seems to be saying is that he didn’t want to have to use that term and just mumbled through it and it only came to him later to say “teacher”. At least that’s how I understood it.
I fact checked and, yes, the word used in “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” was, indeed, the “n-word” at a point in history. “Tiger” is only a fairly recent change. And since Jeremy Clarkson is quite old, it’s quite possible he grew up singing it with the “n-word”. Now, imagine a song you’ve heard and sung a million times that has a bad word in it like “bitch” or whatever. And imagine you find yourself singing it to yourself while in the presence of a child. In the last moment, you realize you’re about to say the word. What do you do? You probably mumble it because our brains are only quick enough to do that. Then it’s only later that you think “Oh, I probably could’ve switched it out with “witch”” or something.
I squirm when I hear black people use that word, but as a white person, I don’t feel it’s my place to tell two black people engaging in n-word banter to stop. The n word represents white power over black people, but maybe when two black people use it, they are recovering that power and owning it.
“but as a white person, I don’t feel it’s my place to tell two black people engaging in n-word banter to stop.”
This times a million.
Who cares? I mean, I have ZERO desire to use that word. Once you start complaining about black people using it, it starts to look like you’re mad that they’re “allowed” to use it and you can’t.
What?? I don’t like people using the word because it’s an ugly, offensive word. I would never use it myself, just as I would never use the C word, the F word for a gay person etc. Implying that someone is a closet racist because they don’t like hearing other people say a racist word is just ridiculous. I agree with Rachel completely.
When you go back to the 70th and early hip-hop, groups like “The Last Poets“ used the n…..word politically for raising African-American awareness, depicting the problems dooming black culture, on drugs and many more social problems.
It is my believe that this mainstream rappers nowadays are completely clueless and do harm and no good with this inflation of the n….word.
Rachel, there are approximately 40 million Black people in America. A large portion of them detest the board and will not allow it in their presence. The generation that attended separate school, could not vote and had to sit on the back of the bus are still alive with many just now baby boomers age. Probably television and radio are misleading people into thinking all or most embrace this word but that is false.
I love Top Gear. It’s not just a guy thing. May and Hammond are great.
@Tatjana I see what you doing there with that comment and I can tell you not appreciated at all. Anyhoo black people can do whatever they want with that word, they have reclaimed it. However on a personal basis I don’t like to use the word myself nor do I advocate for black people to use it as I feel it’s demeaning and should be banned altogether.
I wasn’t doing anything. I seriously don’t know. I’m 21, from a country that has very few people of other races. The picture of America we get, mainly trough Hollywood, is very sugarcoated. I apologize if I somehow offended someone.
Love him.
He’s said the F-word and the R-word before so it’s not like this should be a big shock. He’s said other things about women/other races/cultures. I could 100% see him using the N-word.
He might be a good tv presenter, but he’s a grumpy old bigot and always has been. Heck, half his of his appearance on a genealogy show, was about him longing for the ‘good ole days’ where robber barrons could do whatever they wanted at factories.
What’s the R-word?
Wait, should we feel all warm and fuzzy about a grumpy old bigot being broadcast globally and spreading his disrespect of others all across the world?
This is total BS I don’t believe it. Also, it didn’t even air. The Mirror is just trying to stir things up because of all the controversy lately with famous/powerful Americans saying REALLY opffensive stuff. He’s just saying a kid’s rhyme here where he is OBVIOUSLY mumbling the “N” word because he knows it wrong to say it. Again, total BS!
It’s a guy thing? Really? Didn’t we just get all up in arms about Andrew Garfield calling sewing feminine? Maybe I’m just sensitive cause I’m a lady who likes car shows, but jeez.
Also, Clarkson is an idiot.
I clearly heard him say something starting with N. It’s unlikely it would be a different word in this context. If it were, it would sound like tiger or something.
Not an N word.
My son (6) and husband watch it religiously……although I would like my son to cut back (or stop) watching because some of the humour/subject matter really is not appropriate but my husband tried to assure me it all goes over his head and he loves the cars…..I bought into that until I heard him walking around muttering “Oh cock” whenever something doesn’t go his way…….
Said it or didn’t, meant it or not – if you don’t watch Top Gear you still won’t and if you do… You probably still will.
I thank the gods I’m an American and my HR issues remain private as I feel his should. This new mob mentality is really scary.
Private HR issues on a show that is broadcast globally?, and thus probably has more viewers of color than not if its viewed in India China, the middle eAst etc.
Your issues remain private because you’re not famous, it has nothing to do with being American. The issues of regular suburban Brits don’t get splashed around either.
@Jenn, Donald Sterling is an American too and his HR issues and a private statement just went very public. Indeed, HR issues in the United States must comply with state and federal laws and there are multiple avenues for HR issues to be taken public.
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Reminds me of the southpark episode n*gger guy….
Can anyone find the Top Gear video of Tom Hiddleston calling Clarkson a donkey while doing a perfect imitation of Clarkson’s voice?
Here you are http://vimeo.com/m/86948004
Ah, thank you, Intro Outro, “and the greatest ass of a donkey in the world!” Clarkson didn’t even realize he was being insulted.
He said it!!!! If not what did he say???? That’s the problem with GB its one rule for diffrent races. If it would have been a racist word said by a black person it would have been a different story!!!