Jeremy Clarkson accused of 'racism' during Top Gear series finale in Thailand

[Chao Lao Beach]

i'm planning to drive in Burma in the is next year or so. So I watched the show to get some idea o=f what it might be like. I certainly didn't realise that the VERY FIRST UK people to be allowed to drive through Burma were going to take such a flippant attitude to the country and i wonder what damage they've done for future visitors.

I expect a lot of government officials will get to watch this show to see how their respective countries are portrayed by the BBC - this isn't going to help future visitors to the country one bit.

As much as it was entertaining, I just wonder what morons it will attract.

[keemapoot]

i'm planning to drive in Burma in the is next year or so. So I watched the show to get some idea o=f what it might be like. I certainly didn't realise that the VERY FIRST UK people to be allowed to drive through Burma were going to take such a flippant attitude to the country and i wonder what damage they've done for future visitors

Probably the same amount of damage he did when he mocked southern rednecks and their old beater cars in the US.

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[CNXTim]

So to respond in kind, using the German derogatory nickname for a pommy ba...rd would be "Island Monkey"? Given the Thai derogatory name is ling seems appropriate no?

[petercouz]

I have never heard the word used outside of Australia, where it was used most certainly in a derogatory way - so either Clarkson thought it was a joke very few people would get or indeed the bridge did just have a distinct slope to it.

Hard to believe come the editing stage that they would have risked leaving in a remark that could be so easily construed as racist, so i assume it was not meant., surely.....

[wilcopops]

Of course Clarkson was making a joke about the person on the bridge. That's his type of humour and I don't think that people should be calling him racist. Many of these types of terms are meant in jest and not meant to be derogatory. If he wasn't making a joke he would have said "the bridge is on a slant" because "slope" is usually used when talking about the ground. This stuff is getting out of hand and the only winners would be lawyers as usual. "Top Gear" without Clarkson's style of humour wouldn't be "Top Gear".

if he said that ,the same idiots would still complain because "slant or slanty eyed" people has been in the past ,just like slopes ....you just cant win ,can you ?

if there was a blonde on the bridge and he said something to that effect ,the feminist rights brigade would probably be outraged today .........

You are so right!

Racists just can't win!

[lamkhamhaeng]

Ooh how lovely, a group of racism apologists!

And even better, you're all privileged Westerners living as immigrants in the East (who seem pitifully unaware of the irony). Who better to comment on racism?

It's always nice when predominantly white Westerners tell minorities how to feel about racist slurs, especially when they're telling them not to be bothered by it. It just screams self-awareness, humanitarianism, all those good things.

Anyway, who cares if anyone's annoyed by it? Stupid slopes. They're just slopes! Bloody hell. It's not like they're white. They'll get over it, their brains aren't developed enough to experience angst for long. You know, like nignogs, or the mentally handicapped. Or <insert something I'm not>. It's okay, they're not white! They don't deserve respect!

[wilcopops]

Gym in my hometown.......

Thai nationals 2.500 bath a month

Foreigners 5.000 a month

Visiting Zoo or national parks

Thai national 100 bath

Foreigners 250 bath

Barber in my hometown

Window pricing

Thai Nationals 50 bath

Foreigners 80 bath

Racism is a Slippery Slope in Thailand if you ask me.

So because your barber charges you extra, that justifies J.Clarkson using racist terms on a TV show?

[mmh8]

Being an Asian American I can tell you that the term "slope" is extremely derogatory. It is the equivalent of "slant" and refers to the supposed angle of an Asian person's eyes. "Chink" and "Chinaman" are bad ones but I get more of a visceral feeling hearing this one. It is never used in a neutral manner and is always used in the negative. For those white people who have never heard this term it is because no one has ever used it with you out of a hatred for your race. I am guessing but I believe that Clarkson was not aware of how strong this racist word is. So I will forgive him for this. But it is no joke. Try it on me and I will verify that.

apple person, try going to England, you have probably only been in the goldfish bowl that is the us before. slant is not a racist term, go loook in your dictionairy, and find a good altetrnative.

you people on here are such curiosities to me. I meet a yank and they are scared of black people and think they are gonna be robbed, spend their lives being scared of this stuff. I meet a south african they are scared of black people and use all the words under the sun and are happy to be somewhere with so few black people. . I speak to Thai and they dislike the Indian a lot.

oh well carry on muppets

Edited March 18, 2014 by mmh8

[brit1984]

i think you missed the average income of thais vs farangs

Plenty of both earn more than me. Unless all pricing is based upon each individual's income, then there should be one price for all.

including children, students and OAPs?

As long as any discounts based on age/education status are applied irrespective of ethnicity, nope.

ok that's good that you can see the benefits of price discrimination (so your not lacking in basic economic understanding) but you are worried about inequality between people from thailand vs westerners...

so would you agree its about time, we did away we the birth right of citizenship (and the many advantages/disadvantages that come with being born in your home country) and share all the world's resources, including educational and career opportunities (and all public services) equally for all people on earth?...

if so, i admire your principled philosophy. if not, i am amused by your selfish and lop-sided view of what racism / inequality is...

[speedtripler]

Gym in my hometown.......

Thai nationals 2.500 bath a month

Foreigners 5.000 a month

Visiting Zoo or national parks

Thai national 100 bath

Foreigners 250 bath

Barber in my hometown

Window pricing

Thai Nationals 50 bath

Foreigners 80 bath

Racism is a Slippery Slope in Thailand if you ask me.

So because your barber charges you extra, that justifies J.Clarkson using racist terms on a TV show?

it could be worse ,there could have been a few <snip> on the bridge

the muslim communiy would be outraged lol

hes a comic entertainer as well as a presenter ,if you dont like it dont watch it

jimmy carr makes a lot worse jokes about jews and child molesting and stuff and he gets away with it

they just say hes got a black sense of humour ......

Edited March 18, 2014 by soundman
Reported - derogatory.

[ginjag]

Gym in my hometown.......

Thai nationals 2.500 bath a month

Foreigners 5.000 a month

Visiting Zoo or national parks

Thai national 100 bath

Foreigners 250 bath

Barber in my hometown

Window pricing

Thai Nationals 50 bath

Foreigners 80 bath

Racism is a Slippery Slope in Thailand if you ask me.

So because your barber charges you extra, that justifies J.Clarkson using racist terms on a TV show?

Same same but not same

[mmh8]

I have never heard the word used outside of Australia, where it was used most certainly in a derogatory way - so either Clarkson thought it was a joke very few people would get or indeed the bridge did just have a distinct slope to it.

Hard to believe come the editing stage that they would have risked leaving in a remark that could be so easily construed as racist, so i assume it was not meant., surely.....

Australians who call the british pommes, none of them can explain why though. if clarkson was an australian it would be racist, since aussies are all crooks, or at least thats where the genes came from

[Gandtee]

I suppose there will also be offense taken from comments such as' Don't get yourself into a Paddy!' ( outside an Irish brothel) The Dai has been cast! (a Welsh jockey thrown from is horse). And in the same race, a Scots rider jockeying for position.

Oh dear! My brain hurts! Political correctness rules.

[Chao Lao Beach]

I wonder if they mentioned the Thai's who do double pricing to those round eyes.

Do gooders go back to your holes.

The fact is,the bridge physically had a slope on it.

------------------------------

noun

noun: slope; plural noun: slopes

1. 1.

   a surface of which one end or side is at a higher level than another; a rising or falling surface.

   "he slithered helplessly down the slope"

   • a difference in level or sideways position between the two ends or sides of a thing.

     "the roof should have a slope sufficient for proper drainage"

     "the slope of the roof"
   • a part of the side of a hill or mountain, esp. as a place for skiing.

     "a ten-minute cable-car ride delivers you to the slopes"

     "the ski slopes"
   • the gradient of a graph at any point.
   • Electronics

     the transconductance of a valve, numerically equal to the gradient of one of the characteristic curves of the valve.

verb

verb: slope; 3rd person present: slopes; past tense: sloped; past participle: sloped; gerund or present participle: sloping

1.

(of a surface or line) be inclined from a horizontal or vertical line; slant up or down.

"the garden sloped down to a stream"

Edited March 18, 2014 by Chao Lao Beach

[lucjoker]

Jeremy Who??? Never heard of the guy. So the bridge was sloping what is all the fuss?

stay in your cage,keep your self save

[hansnl]

I wonder which group, person(s) or race complained about racism.

[HooHaa]

i'm planning to drive in Burma in the is next year or so. So I watched the show to get some idea o=f what it might be like. I certainly didn't realise that the VERY FIRST UK people to be allowed to drive through Burma were going to take such a flippant attitude to the country and i wonder what damage they've done for future visitors.

I expect a lot of government officials will get to watch this show to see how their respective countries are portrayed by the BBC - this isn't going to help future visitors to the country one bit.

or not.

[tetleythedog]

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I watched this earlier at 1st I thought it was James May walking across until he made his slope remark.

The BBC doesn't take kindly to remarks like that, but yet they aired it.

I think it was a bit out of order but with my British humour I did a chuckle only at his gall to come out with that..

There will be more on this I can guarantee, he will get his arse kicked and so will the editor.

And here we are living in the most racially biased country in the world, but typically Thai to complain, double standards wherever you go here.

[Chao Lao Beach]

I wonder which group, person(s) or race complained about racism.

I bet it was a round eyed who is paid by public funds.

[Estrada]

It's American slang we British don't use this derogatory remark to refer to Asians unless we have spent too much time with Yanks. He was talking about the slope of the bridge.

[lucifer666]

I don't get it. Slope, Slight incline, Lean, Twist ( and a very rare English word ( Skunt) ( Yes that word is spelled correctly and NO, it isn't a ( Bad )reference to a females anatomy) . All means very similar in English. But knowing Clarkson, his mouth was engaged, before his brain was in gear!! ( see what i did there) .

I understand the ( slightly in-accurate English) but for the life of me, i don't see the racist connotations

Edited March 18, 2014 by lucifer666

[wilcopops]

Not being of the Vietnam era, I had to google "slope". Many definitions, one of which claimed it is an acronym for "Silly Little Opium Peddling Easterner".

Slope is mild really, compared to other Clarkson insults.

Absolute nonsense - do your homework.

[harrry]

"Slope" is an insult? Biggest load of <deleted> I have read here for years.

So when teachers described an inclined plane, they are not allowed to call it a 'slope'?

Seriously, some people need to get over it.

Do you really think a Daily Mail reader ever studied geometry...or if they did stayed quiet in the classroom long enough to hear the teacher?

[wilcopops]

I wonder which group, person(s) or race complained about racism.

"group"? - oh dear - just listen to yourself.

Edited March 18, 2014 by wilcopops

[rubl]

Having lived and worked in Asia for 13 years, I now realise I have led a sheltered life.

I have never heard the "slope" expression used before and if some sensationalists hadn't written this drivel, I would still have been happily ignorant of it's meaning.

I vaguely remember having learned in school that the correct term is &lt;deleted&gt; as in Worthy Oriental Gentleman

[gemini81]

Playing the racism card is getting out of hand these days. In Seattle, you can't say 'brown bag.' No wonder so many of us ex pats 'fled' to Thailand, where you don't hear 'racist' 'sexist' 'fascist' (except on Thai visa 555)

[brit1984]

clarkson should issue a public apology to the bridge

[lucifer666]

Not being of the Vietnam era, I had to google "slope". Many definitions, one of which claimed it is an acronym for "Silly Little Opium Peddling Easterner".

Slope is mild really, compared to other Clarkson insults.

Absolute nonsense - do your homework.

Ahh, Got it now. No one told me it was a acronym

[speedtripler]

Having lived and worked in Asia for 13 years, I now realise I have led a sheltered life.

I have never heard the "slope" expression used before and if some sensationalists hadn't written this drivel, I would still have been happily ignorant of it's meaning.

I vaguely remember having learned in school that the correct term is &lt;deleted&gt; as in Worthy Oriental Gentleman

when i was young &lt;deleted&gt; were black ,not asian

wasnt that why the gollywog logo was removed from jars of jam of something ?

[wilcopops]

I don't get it. Slope, Slight incline, Lean, Twist ( and a very rare English word ( Skunt) ( Yes that word is spelled correctly and NO, it isn't a ( Bad )reference to a females anatomy) . All means very similar in English. But knowing Clarkson, his mouth was engaged, before his brain was in gear!! ( see what i did there) .

I understand the ( slightly in-accurate English) but for the life of me, i don't see the racist connotations

I think you might consider what this was. ...........a multimillion pound TV show with a huge staff and crew , including scriptwriters and advisors and editors. This statement was no accident it was written, filmed, reviewed and passed....and you can be sure that Clarkson is one of the top decision-makers on the show,.