Jeremy Clarkson complaints continue to rise

Jeremy ClarksonThe number of complaints over comments made by Jeremy Clarkson on The One Show last week continues to rise.

The Top Gear presented appeared on the BBC One magazine programme to promote his new DVD. However, a series of comments he made about public sector strikes and train suicides provoked a furious response from viewers. The presenter, who is well known for his outbursts, jested that striking public sector workers should be “shot in front of their families”. His comments on people who commit suicide by throwing themselves under trains have met with wide-spread condemnation by mental health charities.

Although One Show presenters Alex Jones and Matt Baker apologised for comments made by Clarkson, who himself later apologised, the number of complaints about the controversial comments continue to rise. By the end of last week the complaints had topped 21,000 but now new reports have suggested the figure has risen to 31,000 making it one of the most complained about incidents on television ever.

The BBC had, last week, received several hundred calls of support for Clarkson. There are some who have defended his comments calling them “jokes” and “hilarious” but it would seem the majority of people do not agree. Retailer HMV have said that sales of his DVDs have shot up since he made the comments last week perhaps proving that not all bad publicity is necessarily a negative thing.