Jeremy Clarkson Sued For Racial Discrimination: Ex-‘Top Gear’ Host Verbally Abused The Show’s Irish Producer?

Former Top Gear co-host Jeremy Clarkson is being sued for racial discrimination by the producer with whom the former had a “fracas.” The producer claims Clarkson verbally abused him over his Irish origins.

Top Gear, BBC’s most popular automotive show, had very bitter fallout, when one of its all-time favorite presenters was asked to walk away from the show. Owing to a spat with producer Oisin Tymon, Jeremy Clarkson was unceremoniously asked to step down, which created a furor among Clarkson’s fans. The show’s fans, too, openly voiced their displeasure. Apparently, Clarkson is alleged to have assaulted Tymon.

Now Tymon is suing Clarkson and BBC, alleging he was a victim of racial abuse. The producer of Top Gear claims Clarkson verbally abused him with remarks about his Irish nationality. Apart from the frontal assault that Jeremy Clarkson allegedly launched on Tymon, the former is also accused of racial discrimination because of some harsh words used during a verbal spat. The entire brouhaha was reportedly because the then-Top Gear producer Tymon hadn’t arranged for some hot meals after a day’s shooting.

The spat, which has been described as a “physical and verbal incident” with Clarkson, has been quite traumatic for Tymon, according to his legal representatives. Tymon, who is represented by legal firm Slater And Gordon, has begun the process of a lawsuit charging Clarkson with racial discrimination by attending an employment tribunal on Friday. The tribunal was attended by lawyers of Jeremy Clarkson as well as those representing BBC. It was a closed-door hearing, which means any and all information that was shared in the meeting remains confidential.

Why is Tymon accusing Clarkson of racial discrimination? While Jeremy Clarkson is an acclaimed presenter, who is on a first name basis with a lot of influential men and women in all walks of life and not just the automotive world, he is known to utter racially derogatory terms, reported CNN. In 2012, Clarkson was caught on video mumbling the N-word. The word was uttered while he was singing “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”

Since the evidence was caught on camera, Clarkson apologized. He admitted that he had uttered the N-word but fully intended to make it sound incoherent. However, he could not manage to obscure the word as well as he had intended, and it was clearly heard when the tape was replayed. The video that contains Clarkson uttering the N-word surfaced two years after recording. At that time, Top Gear‘s broadcaster BBC had issued him a “final warning”.

Now that Tymon has leveled an accusation saying Clarkson verbally abused him about his Irish origins, it might be difficult to take Clarkson’s expected denial without an iota of doubt. However, there is another more financially lucrative angle which Tymon might be playing, reported MSN.

The alleged verbal as well as physical abuse happened in the month of March. Subsequently, BBHC launched an internal investigation which indicated Tymon was a victim of an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” by Clarkson. Surprisingly, the investigation publicly cleared Tymon of wrongdoing whatsoever.

Since it has been alleged that Clarkson launched a verbal and physical attack on Tymon, the latter may be bound to receive some compensation for his agony. After all, reports indicated that Clarkson did sock Tymon, resulting in non-fatal facial injury. It is strongly believed that leveling racial discrimination allegations at this stage would significantly boost any compensation that is most certainly being prepped for Tymon.

Following Jeremy Clarkson’s exit, Top Gear‘s longtime co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond stepped down as well, reported USA Today. Now that Top Gear will now be hosted by BBC veterans, radio host Chris Evans and Zoe Ball, and a third as yet unknown presenter, will the allegations of racial discrimination affect the show?

[Photo by Leon Neal / Getty Images, Brendon Thorne / Getty Images, Ellis O’Brien / BBC Worldwide]