Jeremy Clarkson, the infamously bigoted presenter of BBC’s motoring programme Top Gear, last night called for teachers and nurses striking for their pensions to be shot.
In a rant on last night’s The One Show that left presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones squirming in their seats Clarkson said of public sector strikers: "I'd have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families."
He added, "I mean, how dare they go on strike when they've got these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed while the rest of us have to work for a living?" And exactly how much “work” is involved in driving super-cars around an exotic race track one day a week Jeremy? Not exactly the graveyard shift in an NHS hospital, is it?
As many, like former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott have suggested, this is an interesting comment from a man who earns £1 Million a year from the public sector through the British taxpayers licence fee.
Clarkson, a good friend of British Prime Minister David Cameron, also went on to complain about train delays caused by suicidal people throwing themselves onto the tracks. He suggested the trains should simply run over their bodies, stating: "You just think, 'Why have we stopped because we've hit somebody?' It won't make them better."
The BBC made an immediate apology after the show stating that it was sorry for any offense that may have been caused by Clarkson’s comments. However, this did not stop the public outpouring of fury that followed Clarkson’s right wing rant.
Piers Morgan, ex-editor of The Daily Mirror, tweeted: "Clarkson can abuse - and hit (weakly..) - me all he likes. But what he said about the strikers just proves he's a nasty little twerp." Oh, Piers how I hate to agree with you...
Labour's shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, Jon Trickett, said: "Clarkson should apologise. And the prime minister should make clear he disassociates himself from the distasteful remarks uttered by one of his friends."
The Telegraph (unsurprisingly) has defended Clarkson by way of that age old get out of jail free card, “He was only joking...” They have labelled viewers that were offended by him as "idiotic" while suggesting they themselves should be shot. Well, we would never have expected that from those fair-minded folks, oh wait...
Many others, including a large number of the general public who pay his wages, are calling for Clarkson’s dismissal from the BBC. Hopefully this will be followed through and we can finally get this vile, ignorant little biff-head off of our television screens and into the dole que.
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