Former BBC Director Says It Was Wrong To Sack Jeremy Clarkson

Image Credit: PA Images

It will come as a sort of vindication for old Top Gear fans to know that the former director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, has said the company made a mistake by letting Jeremy Clarkson go.

While admitting Clarkson was a 'deeply objectionable individual' on occasions, Thompson, 59, said the BBC made a grave error.

Thompson is a good man to speak on the topic given he actually dealt with and advised Clarkson through his trials and tribulations.

However, they became too much and too frequent. Last year, Clarkson's contract was severed after he punched a Top Gear producer over a steak.

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Thompson has since become the CEO of the New York Times.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: "Clarkson can be a deeply objectionable individual, and I say that as a friend. I don't think people should punch their colleagues. It's hard to keep them if they do.

"But I would say his pungent, transgressive, slightly out-of-control talent was something the BBC could ill afford to lose. He spoke to people who didn't find much else in the BBC."

What do you think?

Words by Josh Teal

Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Top Gear, Cars

Josh Teal

Josh Teal is a journalist at LADbible. He has contributed to the 'Knowing Me, Knowing EU' and 'UOKM8?' campaigns interviewing everyone from student drug dealers to climate change activists.

@tealioni