"There was an 18-year waiting list to be in the audience of Top Gear, but the BBC has fucked themselves. It was a great show and they've fucked it up." --Jeremy Clarkson at a charity event, March 2015
Now that Jeremy Clarksonhas been sacked by the BBC in the wake of his alleged assault of a producer, it's all over but the shoutingâand there will be plenty of shouting, make no mistake about it.
That said, I can't let Jeremy go off into what will no doubt be a well-remunerated future on ITV or Sky without correcting his statement above.
No, Jeremy, the BBC didn't f*ck anything up.You did.
You were the host of the most fantastically successful motoring show in the history of television, and you blew it.
You kept on saying and doing stupid things, despite a string of warnings from BBC management.
You apparently believed that the rules didn't apply to youâa classic sign of a celebrity who's been surrounded by yes-men for far too long.
Since you, yourself, reported the latest incident to BBC management, deep down you obviously know you screwed upâand despite that, despite knowing you were on a very short leash, despite knowing this was becoming an international story, you went on stage at a charity event andcut loose with an obscenity-laden tirade against the people who were at that moment deciding your future with the organization.
I would hope that now that it's over with, you'll at least have the decency to publicly apologize to Oisin Tymon for your behavior. I would hope you'd turn over a new leaf, in some mild way. I don't seriously expect you to do it, though.
What I do expect you'll do is retain the services of a very expensive attorney, and file suit against the BBC for some trumped-up reason. Oh, poor little Jeremy, the multimillionaire who has been treated so shabbily by the big evil BBC. Boo-hoo.
And then you'll sign a contract with someone else--Sky, ITV, maybe even Netflix--and bring over James and the Hamster, and you'll create something very much like Top Gear. And continue to make millions doing it.
But knowing what I now know about you, I don't know if I'll be inclined to tune in. You've revealed yourself to be just another self-entitled celebrity with anger management issues, and frankly, you're just not that interesting to me anymore.
And meanwhile, life goes on.