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Jeremy Clarkson: On Immigrants, Mocking Dead Cockle-Pickers, His Most Alarming Statements

By Elizabeth Gail
Published on: 16:01 PST, Dec 26, 2015

Jeremy Clarkson is one of the most talented television personalities in the world. Aged 55, he began his career as a television car show presenter in the late ’80s. Currently, Jeremy Clarkson is credited for making Top Gear the biggest motoring show in the world, presently boasting about 385 million viewers. His tongue-in-cheek humor and controversial behavior and statements have had a lot to do with it, considering the buzz and sighs of surprise and dismay they have elicited.

Earlier this year, Jeremy Clarkson was sacked from the BBC for allegedly physically attacking a Top Gear producer after being served cold meat. However, the incident also put him on top of the 2015 most searched male celebrity list on Google. This is according to the Star. Apparently, Jeremy Clarkson garnered more searches than Caitlyn Jenner, who launched a new reality show following her recent transition.

The number of Jeremy Clarkson searches also overshadowed those of Lamar Odom, who a few months ago suffered an unfortunate drug overdose in a brothel in Las Vegas after a three-day drug fueled “bender.” That said, the following are some of the controversial comments that the former Top Gear presenter has made in recent years.

Starting with some of his more positive statements, he earlier this year stated that immigrants coming into Britain should be welcomed. This was in the wake of a capsized boat full of immigrants that left about 900 people dead, just off the shores of Libya.

According to him, accepting them was a noble idea as they were not risking their lives to come to Britain and claim benefits, but because they were fleeing from terrorists in their country who were spreading death and destruction. The following was his exact statement as reported by the Mirror.

“They are coming because they don’t want to have their heads cut off with a rusty kitchen knife. And here’s the thing: If we are human beings too, we should let them in… If your neighbour’s house burnt down, you wouldn’t tell him that your house was full. Even if you neither liked nor trusted him very much, you’d make up the sofa bed and invite him to spend the night. Or is that just me?”

And on to his more sinister comments, he in 2012 suggested that a bit of racism should be allowed at Heathrow Airport as the security checks were causing major delays running into hours. This was through his Sun column in which he wrote the following.

“The only possible solution is to introduce a bit of racism. Nobody likes a racist. Nobody likes prejudice. It has no place at work, at play, or in government. But at Heathrow airport? Hmmm.”

This is as reported by the Week. In the column, Jeremy Clarkson wrote that security personnel should simply be on the lookout for “swarthy amputees with beards” and should let blonde actresses through with minimal inspection. The following was the statement.

“They believe that … a hook-handed imam with fire in his heart and hatred in his eyes is just as likely to whip up anti-western sentiment as Joanna Lumley.”

He in the same year made a distasteful joke about dead Chinese cockle-pickers following a drowning disaster in Morecambe Bay. According to the Huffington Post, Jeremy Clarkson stated in his Sun column that synchronized swimming was “Nothing more than Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water”.

Jeremy Clarkson also added, “You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe Beach. For free.”

[Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images]

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