London - A year has passed since he was sacked by the BBC for his “unprovoked physical attack” on a Top Gear producer. But it seems the passage of time has only intensified former host Jeremy Clarkson’s bitterness about the way he was treated.
On Wednesday he launched a scathing attack on the Corporation, branding it “tiresome” for being obsessed with political correctness.
In a revealing interview, he said he suffered from the “nonsense” views held by his former bosses and criticised their endless quotas.
He also took a swipe at his Top Gear successor Chris Evans for only being interested in hiring celebrities for the motoring show and joked he was paid more than £14 million (R300m) to leave.
Also read: Clarkson battling with car show name
Speaking at the China Exchange in Soho on Tuesday night, Clarkson recalled the time his former boss, Director of Television Danny Cohen, labelled him a racist because he named his dog Didier Dogba after the black Chelsea footballer. He told the audience: “Political correctness is tiresome. We really suffered from it terribly at the Beeb.
“I remember being called in to see Danny Cohen. I trudged all the way over the Broadcasting House and he said, ‘I understand you have a new dog and you have called it Didier Dogba. It is racist.’
“I said, ‘It is not racist. We are all Chelsea fans in the family’. He said, ‘Please tell me the dog is not black.’ I said, ‘It’s a Scottish Terrier. Should I have called it John Terrier?’ You do think, ‘How do they operate these people? How do they keep their minds on what they are supposed to be doing when their minds are all full of stuff and nonsense?”
While he praised the editorial freedom at the BBC, saying “they allowed us to do anything we wanted”, the motoring journalist criticised the management structure and the endless quotas being put in place.
“It’s very top heavy, there’s far too many tiers of management, they are obsessed with quotas and political correctness,” he said.
“But it does churn out some astonishingly good programmes from time to time.”
Why are they using a bunch of celebrities?
The revamped Top Gear, which airs later this month, features former Friends actor Matt Le Blanc, Formula 1 commentator Eddie Jordan and German racing driver Sabine Schmitz.
And Clarkson was unable to resist a dig at the celebrity-heavy line up. Now working on a rival car show for Amazon, he said: “One of the surprises Chris has done is that all the people he has picked are known. I would have rung up and got young motoring journalists.
Also read: Clarkson vs Evans - it's no contest!
“Our show is all new. Nothing is the same but the same sort of idea. We won’t be doing any of the travel features and we have not had any celebrity guests yet.”
Clarkson, 56, left the BBC in March 2015 after the decision was made not to renew his contract following his ‘fracas’ with producer Oisin Tymon.
He was followed by co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond, along with the show’s executive producer Andy Wilman.
Earlier this year he issued an apology to Tymon after settling a £100 000 (R2.14m) racial discrimination and personal injury claim.
Tymon launched the action against Clarkson and the BBC after the presenter gave him a bloody lip in the bust-up.
Clarkson glad he left BBC
Clarkson said he was glad to have left the BBC as Top Gear would have ended up “tired and boring”, adding: “We would have piloted it into a hillside and that would have been the end.”
Asked if he was paid £14 million to leave Top Gear, he replied: “You say £14 million? It was a lot more than that. Did I say I would retire? I wanted to do a farming programme but nobody wants to watch that.”
He denied claims he had been trying to sabotage Top Gear’s chances of success, revealing he is paid every time it gets recommissioned.
“What’s very entertaining is that Chris Evans is having a very hard time at the moment as he attempts to put Top Gear back together again.
“It’s been suggested that I am behind it, that I am trying to scupper him. But I discovered the other day that every time it gets recommissioned I get paid, so that’s a curious bit of BBC contract but I wish them all the very best.”
Clarkson confessed he and the rest of the team involved in the Amazon show have been having great trouble finding a name for the show – and face a race against time to decide in the next week.
He said: “You can’t have any name. I have thought of calling the new show Jeremy Clarkson but James May objected. We can’t have Drive Time as that is already registered.
“I like the name Speed Bird as it has grace and elegance to it. It is everything we are not. But it is not possible as it belongs to David Brown who owns Aston Martin.