Posted on 03/28/2014 8:12:13 AM PDT by klpt
An actress is suing the BBC for up to £1million after Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson allegedly made a racist remark during the series finale.
Indian-born Somi Guha, 36, has instructed lawyers after Clarkson used the word 'slope' - a derogatory term for people of Asian descent - in the Top Gear Burma special.
Ms Guha claims that broadcasting Clarkson's comment amounts to unlawful discrimination by a public body.
Her lawyers, Equal Justice, claim her action could cost the BBC £1 million in punitive damages under equality laws unless it apologises and takes the hit motoring show off the air.
They say she is one of a group of people who were offended by the term - and so sought legal advice from the firm, who previously worked on racism allegations surrounding reality show Celebrity Big Brother.
A BBC spokeswoman for Top Gear said the Corporation had no comment on Miss Guha's action.
In the series finale, the three hosts - Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson - are tasked with building a bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand.
After completion, Clarkson, 53, said: 'That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it', as a man walked towards him on a makeshift bridge.
Co-presenter Richard Hammond, 44, replied: 'You're right, it's definitely higher on that side.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The Home Garden Channel better watch their step on their special program about spades and hoes.
Calling some punjabi a slope is so british , and just wrong,,
better him than me...
Anyone could see from the comment that Hammond made that Clarkson was talking about the angle of the bridge, not the person ON the bridge.
BBC would be outright insane to take “Top Gear” off the air.
If anything, that ‘actress’ deserves to get pimp-slapped.
Ms Guha.. Shut up and then grow up. You will feel better in the end...........
Top Gear guest Sanjeev Bashkar making jokes about India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yswKb8pxlIU
Oh, for crying out loud. How can someone insult themselves by playing dumb and pretending that’s actually a racist remark?
I laughed aloud at that one.
I hope this does not mean they muzzle Clarkson. His dropping of wry comments is about the best part of the show.
I would sue her parents. She is one mean looking women.
This is insane. The bridge was sloped! Burmese viewers said as much!
Clarkson used his Twitter account today to respond to the allegation, and said: ‘I’m not a racist. I am currently sitting in a bar with a man who lives quite near Wales.’
Love his show and Clarkson is the main draw.
Captain Slow...not so much.
So there is a slope to the bridge? That’s queer. Take the zip line across with a spade and slant it to the other direction. A pack of trained makaka monkeys can do this. Is common sense so niggardly used that I have to do all the thinking around here?
I was going to hyperbolicly declare English will be banned as offensive which in an American school it practically has been banned. A principal lost her job over English.
The whole crew on Top Gear is terrifically talented, knowledgeable about cars, excellent drivers at-speed themselves, and very funny.
Clarkson is noted for his un-PC remarks, many of them joshing his co-host May about being gay. Stuff that would get him crucified on American TV.
The show typically puts the hosts into some weird competition involving cars; has a serious test drive of some wonderful cars by a world champion race driver, and then gives various celebrities a chance to show their driving skills on a test track with their famous “reasonably priced car.”
If you like cars and haven’t seen this top-rated show on cable, you should make it a daily habit.
Jeremy has made quips to offend all sorts of Protected People. (and, come th think of it, ordinary folks, also)
Lawyers looking for a jackpot.
Get over it, people.
I’m just sad that the season is over already. Their shows are so highly “produced” that they can only do about eight per season, I think.
I remember that episode.
What a riot!
Years ago there was a Reader's Digest "Life in These United States" story about a trucker driving a car hauler. The lights went out on his tractor one night. After a bit of poking around the fuse box and some head scratching, he climbed up on the trailer and turned on the headlights of the very front car.
Voila! The road was now illuminated.
He drove on for a while on a country road with no traffic. Finally, he saw a set of headlights coming at him. They appeared to slow down, then swerved a bit and finally went off to the side of the road.
He stopped his rig, got out of the cab and ran over to the car, expecting someone had had a heart attack.
"You OK, buddy?"
"Yeah, I just saw you coming, asked myself, 'If it is THAT HIGH, how WIDE is it?' and decided to get out of the way.
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