Planning for next month’s Top Gear Festival in Sydney has been thrown into chaos, after the BBC officially fired co-host Jeremy Clarkson from his role as a host on the UK show.
BBC Worldwide, which is bringing the Festival to Sydney on April 18 and 19, has said in a statement that it is “working through the implications of today’s announcement with our partner Brand Events and will make a statement on the Top Gear Festival as soon as possible.”
This assurance comes despite The Guardian reporting that BBC Worldwide has cancelled upcoming Top Gear Live shows in Norway.
Clarkson has been officially relieved of his Top Gear duties. BBC Director-General Lord Tony Hall said in a statement, “It is with great regret that I have told Jeremy Clarkson today that the BBC will not be renewing his contract.”
“It is not a decision I have taken lightly. I have done so only after a very careful consideration of the facts and after personally meeting both Jeremy and Oisin Tymon,” Lord Hall added.
Clarkson’s sacking comes as a result of an incident three weeks ago, in which he allegedly verbally abused and then punched producer Oisin Tymon when he was not provided with a hot dinner after a day of filming Top Gear in Yorkshire.
Clarkson was initially suspended following the incident, pending a full investigation by the BBC.
Lord Hall said that despite the incident, Clarkson had made an extraordinary contribution to the BBC.
“We need distinctive and different voices but they cannot come at any price. Common to all at the BBC have to be standards of decency and respect,” he said.
Related: Top Gear To Continue Without Jeremy Clarkson
In the wake of Clarkson’s ousting, Tymon has become the victim of online abuse, with Clarkson supporters labelling Tymon a “crybaby”, and saying he “probably deserved it,” despite Lord Hall saying that, “I want to make clear that no blame attaches to [Tymon] for this incident.”
Bring back #jeremyclarkson the idiot BBC producer mug probably deserved a slap..
— Steve Russell (@rudge357) March 11, 2015
#OisinTymon most probably deserved it. Keep Top Gear great, keep Clarkson! #BBC #JeremyClarkson
— Colin Moisson (@colinmoisson) March 25, 2015
Clarkson has not yet publicly commented on his sacking, but has changed his Twitter profile to “I used to be a presenter on the BBC2 motoring show,Top Gear.”
Watch: Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond discuss visiting Sydney for the Top Gear Festival in April:
