AS well as presenting programmes about cars, Clarkson is known for ending his BBC career by punching producer Oisin Tymon during an argument about dinner arrangements. Clarkson, who allegedly called the producer “lazy" and "Irish", later apologised as they settled a £100,000 racial discrimination and personal injury claim.
He has also made a number of heavily criticised comments, including calling Gordon Brown a “one-eyed Scottish idiot” while he was PM, comparing Nicola Sturgeon to Rose West, saying he would have public sector workers on strike “taken outside and executed … in front of their families” and for using the N-word during a taping of Top Gear.
Prior to the Sturgeon/Markle rant, Clarkson made a number of offensive comments about Scots. Here are the five worst.
Tramps
On Top Gear in 2014, ahead of the Scottish independence referendum, Clarkson discussed the consequences of a Yes vote.
“Nobody is talking about what England would lose,” he told co-host Hammond. “It is quite a lot - North Sea oil, the sub base at Faslane. All tramps."
Viewers were furious, with one responding: “One thing Scotland would gain if they became independent is ditching dull t******* like Jeremy Clarkson."
“Proper food”
Writing in The Times in 2008, Clarkson hit out Scots, claiming “these days, every Scotchman rides into the room on a wave of bile and nationalism”.
“They have become the new Australians, unable to get through any conversation without bringing up a litany of English failures and embarrassments,” he wrote. “Ask a barman up there for a glass of Scotch, and what you get instead is an essay on Culloden and Stirling and Bannockburn and Murrayfield back in March.”
He went on: “The fact is that the Union has been a good thing. We are grateful to you for inventing penicillin and the telephone, and you should be grateful to us for introducing you to proper food and trousers.”
Independence (part 1)
Just this year, in yet another Times column, Clarkson said he would laugh at the “catastrophic consequences” of Scottish independence and branded Yes supporters “Caledonian Communists”.
He added that referendums will continue in Scotland until a Yes vote happens, suggesting the country would have nothing to sell “except grouse shooting, salmon fishing and a dribble of oil”.
Independence (part 2)
Writing in the Sunday Times in 2018, Clarkson questioned the need for independence and demonstrated his total lack of knowledge RE devolution.
“I don’t understand the need for Scottish independence. The Battle of Falkirk was a very long time ago. And it’s not as if England can win the Calcutta Cup any more. What’s more, the Scottish have exactly the same problem with going it alone as we’ll have post-Brexit.
“The bi-curious artisan who’s opened a craft shop in the Highlands selling jumpers knitted from her own armpit hair does not want the same things from Nicola Sturgeon as a heroin enthusiast from the tenements in Glasgow.
“They may think that getting rid of the English will unite them all and bring Sean Connery back. But it won’t.
“Do they want different laws? Really? What laws? Legalisation of burglary? The age of consent raised to 48? Compulsory yodelling for anyone on a bicycle? No. They want the same things as you and I. Something to do in the day and some disposable income at the weekend.”
Nicola Sturgeon
Clarkson has made a number of comments about Scotland’s First Minister, including calling her the “increasingly deranged Sturgeon woman” and suggesting she is “bribing” voters with “English money”.
Discussing praise for Sturgeon during the pandemic, he said “it’s easy to make decisions, isn’t it, when you know someone else will pick up the bill”.
And during filming in Scotland, Clarkson moaned about the Covid restrictions he and his colleagues faced.
"I didn't think there was a hope in hell we'd get started, let alone finished. And that's before we get to the problem with Scotland.
"Nicola Sturgeon seems to be driven solely by a deep-seated hatred of the English, so we were expecting her to close the Border at any moment. Which would have meant throwing away all the money that had been spent."
Did we miss any comments? Let us know below.
