‘Jeremy Clarkson should NOT have been sacked by BBC,’ warns former director-general
JEREMY CLARKSON should not have been sacked by the BBC, the station’s former director-general has warned.
Mark Thompson has claimed that the broadcaster should have found a way to keep the axed Top Gear host, even if he is a "deeply objectionable individual”.
Clarkson was pulled from the popular motoring programme last year, after punching a producer during a “fracas” over a steak. However, Thompson, 59, has suggested that when viewers “didn’t find much else” on the channel’s menu, they shouldn’t have binned their prized dish.
"Clarkson can be a deeply objectionable individual, and I say that as a friend. I don’t think people should punch their colleagues. It’s hard to keep them if they do,” he told The Sunday Times.
"But I would say his pungent, transgressive, slightly out-of-control talent was something the BBC could ill afford to lose. He spoke to people who didn’t find much else in the BBC.
The first clip of Jeremy Clarkson's new show The Grand Tour
READ EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GRAND TOUR HERE
Evans has since resigned from the show after just one run, while co-star Matt LeBlanc has hinted that he’s keen for a second shot.
The Grand Tour arrives on Amazon Prime this Autumn.