With his wife possibly divorcing him soon, it seems as if Clarkson's reputation has been tarnished over the past week.

 

Is it all deserved or not?

Yes.

I dunno what happened exactly, but even hinting or almost saying *that* word out loud when he's been notorious for saying some offensive things in the past is really stupid. I don't dislike him (you definitely can't call him a bore), but he should've seen that coming.

It does make me laugh how he failed miserably when he "tried everything in his power NOT to say that word".

That said, I do feel as though the country is making a massive deal out of it. He did request it not to be aired after all, so he knew he'd done wrong pretty much immediately after saying it. If he were a comedian (on the BBC), I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have a tenth as many complaints as he gets for this sort of thing! Surely anyone can see that it's just his (horrendously bad) sense of humour, by now.

I don't even know what happened really. How did people find out if it wasn't in the show?

The footage of the take where he said the wrong version of 'Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo', was leaked to one of the tabloids (can't remember which one though)!

It's the straw that breaks the camel's back effectively because in many ways it's far from the worst thing he's come out with. My instinct is that he's seen as "too valuable to sack" but I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

It's the straw that breaks the camel's back effectively because in many ways it's far from the worst thing he's come out with. My instinct is that he's seen as "too valuable to sack" but I'd be happy to be proved wrong.

 

Yes, that's a very good point. He gets away with it because, to paraphrase Stewart Lee, he gets paid to come up with offensive opinions to a deadline.