London, England - Jeremy Clarkson said he was waiting for his for his suspension to “blow over” as the rumour mill surrounding his future and that of 'Top Gear went into overdrive and an online petition for him to be reinstated, set up by right-wing political blogger Guido Fawkes, gathered more than 300 000 signatures in its first 24 hours.
The Sun quoted him on Wednesday as saying: “I'm having a nice cold pint and waiting for this to blow over.”
Nevertheless, the timing couldn't be worse; Clarkson's multi-million pound contract, and those of his co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May, will expire at the end of March and they were said to be just days away from signing lucrative new deals when the furore broke on Tuesday.
Clarkson allegedly lost his temper and hit assistant producer Oisin Tymon when he found out no catering had been arranged on set for a location shoot in Hawes, North Yorkshire, on Wednesday 4 March (not Newcastle as reported earlier), although the incident apparently wasn't reported to BBC management until Monday.
Clarkson was called in to a meeting with BBC executives, including director of television Danny Cohen (who wanted to suspend him for last year's Argentinian near-riot, and before that for the notorious N-word incident, but was overruled by director-general Tony Hall) on Tuesday afternoon, and apparently came out looking even grumpier than when he went in - shortly after which his suspension was announced.
MIGHT NOT “BLOW OVER”
This time it may not blow over, however, given that Clarkson was already on a 'final warning'. A BBC insider said Clarkson's new contract could now be untenable: “I can't see him coming back from this.”
He's also said to be mistrustful of Cohen after the latter's handling of the Argentina affray, which Clarkson described as “being thrown to the wolves”. In February he tweeted, “Wanted: new presenter for Top Gear. Applicant should be old, badly dressed and pedantic but capable of getting to work on time” - apparently a reference to issues he's had with BBC production staff about punctuality on set.
All of which has fuelled speculation that Clarkson was considering leaving the BBC; Sky TV is said in the past to have offered him “the world” to present a similar format to Top Gear, and there are rumours buzzing round the cybergarage that ITV is ready to offer him a seven-figure deal if his suspension becomes permanent - which could start a bidding war between it and Sky.
And that would open another can of worms, because BBC Commercials owns the rights to Top Gear, including the show, DVD rights and live shows, having paid Clarkson and executive producer Andy Wilman a fortune for them in 2012.
BUT WHO COULD REPLACE CLARKSON?
The brand is valued at £50 million (R922 million), pulling 350 million viewers a week in 214 countries; it's the most-watched non-fiction programme in the world and BBC Commercials' biggest money-spinner, bringing in about £150 million (R2.8 billion) largely due to Clarkson's larger-than-life political incorrectness.
Simply shutting it down is unlikely to be an option, and whether a suitably obnoxious replacement could be found (Chris Evans' name has been bandied about but he's far too nice a person) is dubious at best.
It may indeed be Danny Cohen who's in an untenable position, forced to either dump Clarkson (which he may not be able to afford) or back down from a stated position and lose all credibility.
No sooner had the suspension been announced than fans set up a petition urging the BBC to reinstate Clarkson - which had gained more than 390 000 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.
“We the undersigned,” it said, “petition the BBC to reinstate Jeremy Clarkson. Freedom to fracas.”
A supporter named Peter Maxwell wrote: “I'm signing because Clarkson is a superb presenter and Top Gear is without doubt one (of) the BBC's better programmes. The viewing figures support this.”
And that's exactly the BBC's problem - they do.
AFP IOL