Top Gear in trouble again?

Top Dog

Some people really need to stop taking themselves so seriously, and every little thing said so literally :rolleyes:

Mexican ambassador slams Top Gear

The Mexican Ambassador to the UK has criticised BBC show Top Gear for a series of "outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults".

His Excellency Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza wrote to the corporation to complain about the comments made in an episode broadcast on January 30 and demanded the show's hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, make a public apology.

In the episode, which can be watched on iPlayer, Hammond joked that Mexican cars reflected national characteristics, saying they were "just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent oaf with a moustache, leaning against a fence asleep, looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat".

May described Mexican food as "like sick with cheese on it" and Clarkson predicted they would not get any complaints about the show because "at the Mexican embassy, the ambassador is going to be sitting there with a remote control like this [snores]. They won't complain, it's fine."

In his letter to the BBC, the Ambassador wrote: "The presenters of the programme resorted to outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults to stir bigoted feelings against the Mexican people, their culture as well as their official representative in the United Kingdom.

"These offensive, xenophobic and humiliating remarks only serve to reinforce negative stereotypes and perpetuate prejudice against Mexico and its people."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We have received a letter from the Mexican Ambassador and shall respond to him directly."

It is not the first time the show, with its blend of motoring news, schoolboy humour and audacious stunts, has got into trouble.

In 2008 the show was rapped by the BBC Trust for showing Clarkson and May sipping gin and tonics at the wheel during a stunt.

Speaking backstage at the National Television Awards, Clarkson said the recent Sky Sports sexism row raised the danger of people being punished for "heresy by thought".

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hzGh4wOs6JZNh4s1jevPYTXCgfXg?docId=N0494171296583447974A

andyseadog

the mexicans need to (wake up :rolleyes:) build a bridge and get over it!

if we threw a tantrum everytime the irish were portrayed on tv as alcaholics/ leprechauns/ ginger freckled folk/ catholic god botherers/ farmers etc, there would never be peace.

this is foolishness. the mexicans need to realise it was a joke, because thats all it was, nobody got personally offended, the only person specifically mentioned was the ambassador, and they only said he was asleep. if someone said i was asleep i wouldnt be offended. its not like a murder accusation!

my arse to all this! sounds like mexico needs a real problem to be worrying about, rather than a few seconds of harmless prime time banter on a tv show on the opposite side of the world.

milltown

In fairness, although I am a huge TG fan, when you see it written down it doesn't look good.

Cartel Mike

The comments were funny but they deffo wern't sporadic.
Hammond scripted those lines before he spoke/acted them.
He isn't that clever and everything on that show is rehersed then acted to various degrees of comic effect and success.
Funny in a Bernard manning way ..but still funny.

basill

It was hillarious all the same and on the money. Mexican food after all does resemble sick with cheese on it. You will be hunting a long time trying to find a michelin starred Mexican restaurant.

phasers

I thought Richard took it WAAAAY too far. It wasn't really funny to begin with (Well except the 'sick with cheese' bit imo) but he just kept going on and on and on about how Mexicans suck.

Stevie Dakota

Between patronising their Aussie guests and the Mexican tirade I thought it was too much and switched off. It just wasn't funny, I like the show but there just wasn't enough to do with cars.

Anan1

Top Gear really is television for Sun readers. Like the Sun, it sometimes crosses the line from the merely idiotic to the malign.

Anan1

Anan1 wrote: »

Top Gear really is television for Sun readers.

Yep, it's utter tripe, watchable, but tripe.

Zubeneschamali

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

I like the show but there just wasn't enough to do with cars.

Top Gear is a car show the way Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a music quiz, or Have I Got News For You is a current affairs quiz.

These are all comedy shows. The theme is just an excuse for jokes.

slave1

Was a fantastic show but over the years has become too scripted, shame really

Nissan doctor

Imo if people want to know exactly how much fuel your new car will use and how many golf bags can fit in the boot then there are plenty of boring newspaper motoring columns and reviews to read.

If you want light entertainment based on 3 lads mucking about in cars then there is nothing better. And I don't know of anyone with a genuine interest in cars as fun items rather then a tool for getting from a - b who doesn't like it.


The Mexicans have called their sports car the Tortilla FFS, did they expect to be taken seriously??:rolleyes:

dudara

I must admit that despite being a huge Top Gear fan, I did think on Sunday that those comments were quite inconsiderate.

In addition, the Aussie bashing was a bit much too.

Anan1

dudara wrote: »

I must admit that despite being a huge Top Gear fan, I did think on Sunday that those comments were quite inconsiderate.

In addition, the Aussie bashing was a bit much too.

I'm guessing that they were very considered. This thread, like many others i'm sure they've provoked, is free publicity for the show.

Captain Slow IRL

Whatever happened to sticks and stones.........?

Nissan doctor

Nissan doctor wrote: »

And I don't know of anyone with a genuine interest in cars as fun items rather then a tool for getting from a - b who doesn't like it.

I have a genuine interest in cars as fun items, admittedly you don't know me but I reckon Top Gear is really sh1t, watchable sh1t but still sh1t. I find some of their antics, particularly with older vintagey yokes to be fairly non enthusiast carry on. I also reckon Clarkson is a total and utter knob :pac:

dudara wrote: »

In addition, the Aussie bashing was a bit much too.

In fairness, Aussie bashing is fair enough, especially when it's Brits doing it, the irony is delicious.

Anan1

Nissan doctor wrote: »

And I don't know of anyone with a genuine interest in cars as fun items rather then a tool for getting from a - b who doesn't like it.

Well now you do. I love cars, and Top Gear bores the sh1t out of me. It's not about cars, it's about the presenters.

smellslikeshoes

Nissan doctor wrote: »

The Mexicans have called their sports car the Tortilla FFS, did they expect to be taken seriously??:rolleyes:

It's not really called the Tortilla....

Mr.Boots

Think of it as a show about cars and its disapointing.
Think of it as a show which fetures cars along with the antics and its a different story.
I love it most of the time....alot of car shows can get bogged down in facts and stats..Top Gear dosnt.
My wife also like it...if it was a "serious" car show she probably wouldnt watch it.
It realy isnt meant to be taken too seriously...Its tounge and cheek, slapstick with a few cars thrown in.
I do find it too scripted at times though.

gbee

The joke was funny, but more than one presenter stumbled it, bringing more attention and actually changing the meaning in the process.

cm0123

Wait, you're telling me that the banter in Top Gear is scripted!?!

Illusion. Shattered

corktina

IBTL....um cant think of ought to say....:rolleyes:

Reg'stoy

And worse still the b***ards don't wear seatbelts, I really hate it when TV presenters don't wear seatbelts.:rolleyes:

Gary ITR

Moved from Motors

opinion guy

They just replayed this on BBC3. Hammonds comments re-aired thou I didn't hear Clarksons jibe about the ambassador

IvySlayer

It's typical - Clarkson makes a light-hearted joke about the Mexicans, as he does every nation. He has insulted the French, Germans, Russians, Malaysians. He insults his own country a lot too.

Hammond wants attention and takes it a bit too far. Lately, Hammond has just annoyed me. He's not funny. When they show his clips I find them really, really boring.

Dempo1

Used to enjoy this show but it has become increasingly smug, arrogant & self promoting for its presenters. I watched the particular episode re the Mexicans and could not help wonder had Hammond had a bad experience with a Mexican or indeed Mexico, he was quite venomous & personal in his attack, it was also telling the Bit about the Mexican ambassador was actually cut from the show, the final bit were clarkson had is go, i actually saw this bit on You Tube.

The show itself has become quite elitist over the years, can recall the last normal everyday car they have actually objectively reviewed. Fine the fast cars are interesting if not completely out of the majority of its viewers league and the foreign trips are enjoyable if not completely pointless.

The fact they constantly dig at the fifth gear is telling, i wonder will this latest nonesense encourage the producers to return back to basics!

whippet

steve coogan hits the nail on the head

Coogan's Guardian column

Beaucoupfish

Top gear is ****. Good article by Steve Coogan. It's not even the Last of the Summer Wine trio I despise the most. It's the gormless looking audience in the background.

gbee

Oh My God! That 'Alan Partridge' guy is so full of baloney, cliches tripping off his tongue before he can spout a few more that I'm sure the three Wise Men are rolling around the floor laughing their hearts out.

Sorry I read that piece of drivel, he seemed to had had a point, then over cooked it, way over cooked it ~ Thumbs DOWn to 'Alan'

Top Gear tonight and I'll miss it due to work and with my Sky subscription already having bounced the DD ~~ I might not get to see it at all./

Dempo1

How Ironic and apt, RTE replayed (or perhaps typically about a year behind) the episode with Steve coogan as the special guest! LOL:D

wee truck big driver

top gear is completly fake and couldnt be any less funny and jeremy clarkson is a complete tw4t

Xclusiv Barber

Hello there. First post here. Top gear. Its candy television isn't it? High school musical without the singing. and..... the... er dancin. and ...the fit brunette... The point is its leave your brain on the shelf type stuff. And yes, sure, sections are about as realistic as the WWE. Even so, remember the episode in iraq/lebanon/israel /not iran, etc. When the plane doors opened and the lads are harnessed in their cars while looking at the earth vertically. Or when they came off the plane we KNEW they weren't goin to follow hamster off. Yes staged, yes funny when brain left on shelf. re the mexican episode, that is exactly what Top Gear itself is, isn't it...... CHEESE. And thats ok.... if you like cheese

two wheels good

Beaucoupfish wrote: »

Good article by Steve Coogan.

Yeah, he's spot on, so here's the link again

omg a kitty

Hammond shouldve just end it after the sick on cheese thing, but they kept going on, and the ambassador thing was too personal and daring

Dempo1

omg a kitty wrote: »

Hammond shouldve just end it after the sick on cheese thing, but they kept going on, and the ambassador thing was too personal and daring

There was something very vindictive and bitter in Hammonds foolish comments, perhaps he was slagged off mexico about his little pecker.

I reckon he must be livid over steve coogans article, it was brilliant!:D

Xclusiv Barber

omg a kitty and Dempo1...Spot on!

omg a kitty

Dempo1 wrote: »

There was something very vindictive and bitter in Hammonds foolish comments

Yeh I dont think they ever spend that long slagging off anything on Top Gear

Cybertron85

Are people surprised? Clarkson is making these sort of comments for years now and that little **** Hammond will always try to emulate him.

As for the James May comment, ...I'm amazed that anyone would be offended by someone making a bad joke about national cuisine.

The presenters are not funny, but I'm only watching topgear for the cars.

opinion guy

Cybertron85 wrote: »

The presenters are not funny, but I'm only watching topgear for the cars.

Ahahhaha now thats funny

Myrddin

Cybertron85 wrote: »

The presenters are not funny, but I'm only watching topgear for the carticles.

FYP.

paddins

those boys are in the ****house again! Enjoy the show

paddins

its more of a sketch show now that a car show though

paddins

anyone know how many years behind the series is on dave presently?

Varik

paddins wrote: »

its more of a sketch show now that a car show though

I agree but it's better that way, what reason would a real car show have to drive to the North Pole or anywhere else they go. It's like a chase scene in a movie, it was never meant to be an instructive demonstration of correct driving. But it has gotten a bit mad.

They had the Australian top gear guys show up in the back prisoner transport a while ago, and Stephen Fry just had to apologise for saying that a man who had been nuked twice was unlucky to be there or possibly very lucky for having to survived both.