BBC faces £1MILLION racism lawsuit over Jeremy Clarkson's 'slope' quip
I don't know why a South Asian (Indian) is making waves over this. "Slope" is slang for East Asians (Chinese). Clarkson will say that the racial reference is in the mind of the listener. He was talking about a bridge at the time
An actress is suing the BBC for up to £1million after Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson allegedly made a racist remark during the series finale of the show.
Indian-born Somi Guha, 36, has instructed lawyers after Clarkson used the word 'slope' - a derogatory term for people of Asian descent - in the Top Gear Burma special.
Ms Guha claims that broadcasting Clarkson's comment amounts to unlawful discrimination by a public body.
Clarkson used his Twitter account today to respond to the allegation, and said: 'I'm not a racist. I am currently sitting in a bar with a man who lives quite near Wales.'
In the series finale, the three hosts - Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson - are tasked with building a bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand.
After completion, Clarkson, 53, said: 'That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it', as a man walked towards him on a makeshift bridge.
Co-presenter Richard Hammond, 44, replied: 'You're right, it's definitely higher on that side.'
At the time, some viewers were left outraged by the 'slope' reference, described by Twitter users as 'not big, not clever, not funny' and 'a gag too far'.
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8 comments:
Saw this episode yesterday. I thought he was talking about the shape of the bridge. Some people are just hunting for something to be offended by!
And greedily hoping to get money for nothing in the "I'm offended" lottery!
Knowing Clarkson, he probably thought it was funny because of the double meaning. He does that All. The. Time. It's a very risky form of humor. Occasionally it's hilarious, sometimes it requires brain bleach, but most of the time (as in this case) the jokes are just plain dumb.
I never realised that 'slope' referred to Chinese people before reading about this programme.
1:16 Almost any word will have some unrealized insult to some people or group somewhere in the World.
I second ANON 1:46, but as an engineer I was looking for the obvious. Clarkston loves the double entendre so that is a viable hypothesis. The show will get an order of magnitude more publicity from this than they will lose in lawyer fees so for Clarkston there is no down side. The actress suing must need the publicity as well since there is no chance her suit will stand.
MDH
Clarkson needs to live and produce his show in the U.S. We do have some speech police here but it is far less extreme than that of the U.K. SHEESH! A guy can't even make a joke.
:Only a ginger can say ginger to a ginger" Tim minchin
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