Jeremy Clarkson is being sued for racial discrimination by Oisin Tymon, the producer he attacked which led to him being removed from hosting duties on Top Gear by the BBC.
Tymon’s case is centred around “Irish insults” allegedly made to him by Clarkson, with BBC director Ken MacQuarrie having confirmed that Clarkson had verbally abused the producer in a statement released in March, saying: “During the physical attack Oisin Tymon was struck, resulting in swelling and bleeding to his lip. The verbal abuse was sustained over a longer period, both at the time of the physical attack and subsequently.” It was never mentioned what Clarkson had said to Tymon, though now the former producer of the car show is claiming that they were racially charged insults.
The confrontation took place on March 4th at the Simonstone Hall Hotel in North Yorkshire, with a BBC report revealing that Clarkson had physically attacked Tymon for a period of 30 seconds, before shouting “the strongest expletives and threats to sack him.” BBC didn’t sack the presenter following the altercation, instead allowing Clarkson to see out the rest of his contract, though did not sign him up for a new series of Top Gear.
Clarkson’s removal from the show also led to Top Gear co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond leaving, too, with the trio later signing a reportedly incredibly lucrative contract with Amazon in order to produce another car show for its Prime Instant Video streaming service.
Amazon have yet to provide a statement regarding whether or not the outcome of this court case will impact upon Clarkson’s deal with them, but given how smoothly his career appears to have panned out following his assaulting of a co-worker, you’d have to imagine that it will not.
