Top Gear driven from Argentina!!!! TOPGEAR IN TROUBLE AGAIN?

[Mitsuru]

Phil if you are uptop yelling through a megaphone, do you want crew for the tank your
sitting on as it rolls up the Argentine presidential palace lawns?

[JPB]

Extra kudos for driving that tank into the swimming pool while you're in about at it.

[mach1rob]

Of course they knew what they were doing! TG is very tightly scripted, it has to be in order to appear so ad-libbed. I don't believe for one minute that Clarkson didn't know what was going on and what reaction they'd get. Does anyone really believe that it's a coincidence? Just as with the slope reference in the Burma show, it would have been pored over by producers, scriptwriters, Clarkson, etc.

I reckon they got the plate, put it on the car, and then planted the story in the Argie press....only it got out of hand. If the show had gone to plan I reckon they'd have thrown in every Argie cliche in the book, Porshe hitler car/Adolf Eichmann for a start, there'd no doubt be a hand of god reference, gauchos, Fray Bentos, the lot, up to and including the 1982 conflict. I know I would if I were a scriptwriter on the show!

It was a coincidence, quoting from the script Editor, Clarkson wanted a 928 GT, itself rare, this one came up for sale, complete with the number plate it was registered with, that it had had it's whole life, bar a short period with a private plate on it, when that was removed it reverted back to the FKL plate.

The car wasn't purchased then someone thought I know, let's go and annoy the argies, it was all planned BEFORE any car was bought, this is purely the argies willy waving and trying to stir up **** because they lost and can't grasp the simple fact that the residents of The Falklands wish to be British, not Argentinian.

As for the slope, how many genuinely knew it could have been used as a derogative term? I'd certainly never heard of that referrence until someone dragged it up from god knows where, and it's the same for the alleged N word use, well, it was never broadcast, so what difference does it make? I'm sure at some point everyone has used that phrase, hell I remember singing the rhyme when I was a kid. Let's not forget, it's acceptable for rappers to use the word in rap songs. Double standards because it was Clarkson and gives the Daily Fail something else to rant about.

[Phil P]

Always glad of a like minded crew.

Megaphone? I don't need one I get wound up! I can also be in stealth mode. That is far more scarey.

[tractorman]

It does beg the question - why did they take (I assume three) UK cars out there, when they usually buy cars in the country they are visiting? I know they always set themselves up by taking the pith out of locals (eg the Florida trip, where they offended the "Bible Belt" people), but they could have done that just as easily by buying local cars and putting a Union Flags on them.

I'm also a bit naive about offensive terms - I'd never heard of "Slope" being used other than, as shown in the film, as a term for something that isn't level. I suspect that complainant was just after a bit of publicity - I wonder if it backfired a bit though as I doubt she would dare to apply for work at the Beeb again! Though, knowing the Beeb, they would probably offer her a job just to prove that they are not discriminating against her!

[Mitsuru]

Well Top Gear has posted a response to the whole incident
http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2 ... +-+Control

[mr rusty]

Hahaha.. What a load of nonsense! "....we would not make a joke around soldiers in conflict..."...'slope'!! Exactly that, but they thought they'd get away with that one and nearly did.... unless you've read some Vietnam war memoirs, as Clarkson probably has, you wouldn't have come across it. Nevertheless, that's what it was, a derogatory term for a Vietnamese soldier. This is a stunt that went wrong, now being milked for every word of free publicity possible.

[TerryG]

Do remember that Clarkson's TV persona is different to who he actually is. There are lots of things Top Gear / Clarkson have done to annoy people but given Clarkson's passion for history, more specifically military history I strongly doubt this was a deliberate act.

[JPB]

Do remember that Clarkson's TV persona is different to who he actually is. There are lots of things Top Gear / Clarkson have done to annoy people but given Clarkson's passion for history, more specifically military history I strongly doubt this was a deliberate act.

I have to agree with Terry on this one. Yes, the "slope" incident was ill considered and Jeremy could have avoided making that comment - even if he couldn't have resisted doing so - but seriously, what are the chances of their having set out to look for a car with a plate that made any reference to the Falklands conflict? If they had, they'd have found something a damned sight less tenuous than the issue which came with the 928 - its original plate, as has already been confirmed by the DVLA representative interviewed on the TV news in connection with this debacle.
I blame the Welsh, if the program makers had avoided Patagonia - whose Welsh population is many times larger than that of Wales itself - they'd have had no trouble at all. Possibly.

[Phil P]

Clarkson did look a bit sheepish. Er....can I say that? Sheep...Wales. Sorry...