The host of a popular British TV motoring show who has made a career out of being outrageous and offensive has set off a new firestorm by suggesting striking public service workers should be executed.“I'd have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families,” Jeremy Clarkson said on the live BBC program One Show Wednesday evening.
Clarkson is a host of the automotive program Top Gear and writes columns for the British newspaper The Sunday Times that appear in syndication in the Star’s Wheels section.
“I mean, how dare they go on strike when they have these gilt-edged pensions that are being guaranteed while the rest have to work,” he said of the 2 million doctors, nurses, teachers and other public service employees who staged a one-day walkout Wednesday.
The audience laughed. Later, One Show presenter Matt Baker apologized.
Unison, a union representing 1 million public service workers, said Thursday it was consulting legal advice about seeking police charges against Clarkson, 51.
“Clarkson's comments on the One Show were totally outrageous, and they cannot be tolerated,” said Unison general secretary Dave Prentis.
“Whilst he is driving round in fast cars for a living, public sector workers are busy holding our society together — they save others' lives on a daily basis, they care for the sick, the vulnerable, the elderly.”
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott said on Twitter: “I know Jeremy Clarkson likes winding people up but it's worth pointing out he gets £1m a year from the licence fee/public sector.”
Prime Minister David Cameron told ITV Thursday morning the remark was “silly,” but tried to play it down. “I’m sure he didn’t mean that. I didn’t see the remark but I’m sure it’s a silly thing to say.”
Motor Trend magazine placed Clarkson 49th on its 2011 Power List, noting: “Thanks mostly to Clarkson's snarky commentary, it is the BBC's top-rated show.”
Clarkson also complained on One Show about suicides slowing down his morning commute to London.
“I do sometimes use the train to come to London but it always stops in Reading. It's always because somebody has jumped in front of it and somebody has burst,” he said.
“You just think, why have we stopped because we've hit somebody? What's the point of stopping? It won't make them better.”
At least one website and his own fan site have collected his quotes, among them: “I don’t understand bus lanes. Why do poor people have to get to places quicker than I do?”
Some newspaper columnists called the striker remark Clarkson’s “Jonathan Ross moment,” a reference to another BBC presenter famous for being outrageous.
Ross and comedian Russell Brand were fined and suspended after leaving a series of obscene phone messages for 79-year-old actor Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter.
This is not the first time Clarkson has been in hot water. He has been accused by car manufacturers of misleading viewers over the reliability of electric vehicles.
Top Gear was also censured by the BBC for glamourizing drunk-driving for an episode that featured Clarkson and a co-host drinking gin and tonics during a race to the North Pole.
Last year, the BBC apologized when Clarkson compared a Ferrari F430 Speciale to a newer model, saying the car “was a bit wrong - that smiling front end - it looked like a simpleton - should have been called the 430 Speciale Needs.” The reference was edited out of repeat broadcasts of the episode.
Clarkson himself was forced to apologize in 2009 after calling the then-prime minister, Gordon Brown, a “one-eyed Scottish idiot.” Brown lost the sight in one eye playing rugby as a teenager.
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