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Original poster

Top Gear - has there been a thread on the comments made about SN on here?

137 replies

oliveoil · 30/01/2007 10:10

Only I can't find one on Search, so sorry if repeating.

Jeremy Clarkson and the man with the ridicuous hair asking Richard Hammond if he "was now mental" and giving him a tissue "in case he dribbles".

And in the interview with Jamie Oliver they said somehting about him having a "special needs face".

I mean, this is the BBC ffs not some crappy channel.

OP posts:
Cappuccino · 30/01/2007 10:38

okay belgo will withdraw use of the word 'offended'

belgo · 30/01/2007 10:38

thanks Cappucino

Original poster
oliveoil · 30/01/2007 10:39

oh good kandi, I am glad you heard it as well, I was beginnning to think I had imagined it then!

OP posts:
StrawberrySnowflakes · 30/01/2007 10:40

i think he looked older and thinner, but so would i if id gone through that! and the sn part, jamie oliver actually said himself wether correct or not, that he did actually spend most of his school life in special needs???..i also thought it was too much and both myself and dp said there would be trouble!

kandi · 30/01/2007 10:42

Unfortunatley not OO!

Pruni · 30/01/2007 10:43

Message withdrawn

harpsichordcarrier · 30/01/2007 10:48

hmmm, well I can't comment on the Jamie Oliver part but I am going to stick my neck out about the dribbling and the "mental" comment. which I will probably regret.
I think it is a natural human reaction to use humour to deal with our greatest fear.
Hammond was very nearly dead. and if not dead, then very significantly disabled. given his public persona it would be ridiculous in the extreme for him to be expected to be po-faced and serious about it. If he is happy to joke about it, I can see that it would be therapeutic and normalising for him to be "back to normal." anyone who has experienced a bereavement or a loss will tell you that one of the most difficult things is when people pussy foot around you and don't know what to say and treat you differently when you just want to be normal. in that context, I can see how the comments were a (clumsy, maybe) attempt to make him feel back to normal.
just because he has experienced a hideous and painful accident, it is not reasonable for the public to expect him to suddenly become Esther "and here's a very sad story" Rantzen or something.
I am probably expressing that badly.

kandi · 30/01/2007 10:48

I hardly ever watch Top Gear, just caught about 5 minutes, and that's where I heard the 'special needs' comment. But my DH sometimes reads Clarksons's columns in the Sunday Times, and apparently in one he was going on about how crap multiculturalism is, and that all his friends are white middle class. Sorry but I thought that was stupid as well (ok, not that he doesn't have any friends that aren't white middle class, but the way he seems so proud of it). I guess I'm just intolerant of ignorance.

Cappuccino · 30/01/2007 10:49

I agree with Pruni. It's aimed at a particular audience, they try not to be politically correct. It's the whole point.

don't like the special needs comment either but it looks like Oliver trumped it so good for him.

Cappuccino · 30/01/2007 10:49

harpsi I think you did okay

harpsichordcarrier · 30/01/2007 10:51

from my personal experience - when I lost one of my twins, I found it immensely cheering when - at the point when everyone around me was talking in hushed tones and shutting up when I came in the room - my bf made an enormously offensive comment about it. because it was the only normal thing that anyone had said to me for days, and it was the ordinary way in which we spoke to each other and it was funny and made me laugh because it was just so inappropriate.
and don't ask me to repeat it because if you are offended by the dribbling comment then you will run away screaming at this .

Pruni · 30/01/2007 10:52

Message withdrawn

harpsichordcarrier · 30/01/2007 10:52

thanks capp although I did say normal about 100 times

belgianmama · 30/01/2007 10:52

I watched it and I must say I didn't hear the half the comments that everyone is talking about. It IS Jeremy Clarkson we're talking about and he is not known for his liberal, sensitive thinking and talking. He just says what he thinks, no matter what other people might think or feel and in our overly PC society I actually like that. So OK maybe that shows that I've got bad taste.
I'm sure the dribbling was about crying and nothing more and my very own DH would make such a comment if he saw another man cry/about to cry. It's just how they deal with it, because men of his age are from the men don't cry generation.

kandi · 30/01/2007 10:54

What was it then HC?

Cappuccino · 30/01/2007 10:54

a few years ago he did a chat show aimed at taking the piss out of Europe

and he blew up small items on a desk

it was actually really funny

I think he is playing a part and he knows he is

quadrophenia · 30/01/2007 10:54

Okay I have a good memory so here is what is said re jamie oliver

'sometimes Jamie you really look special needs' refering to a face he was pulling when he was driving.IMO Jamie was a bit embaressed as it is an out of order comment and Jamie said 'well i spent half my time in school in special needs'

kandi · 30/01/2007 10:56

I agree quadrophenia, a lot of JC stuff is just him trying to cause offence and as such some people might find it funny. But 'special needs' does cross a line, no?

Cappuccino · 30/01/2007 10:56

no the dribbling was about brain injury

I have a child with cerebral palsy

she dribbles a bit

saying 'are you going to start dribbling' was a crass way of saying 'are you brain injured'

but like has been said before, he wasn't going to suddenly start going all Esther Rantzen, put his hand on Hammond's arm and say: "So, are there any longer term effects"

quadrophenia · 30/01/2007 10:58

I think the special needs comment was out of order because of the implication behind it, saying someone has a special needs face is pretty vile IMO, and I like Top gear

Pruni · 30/01/2007 10:59

Message withdrawn

wotzsaname · 30/01/2007 11:01

Clarkson is just a silly old git to make those comments, he also said when he is on a diet he eats carrots and drinks diet coke. What an idiot.

This man should do his job and talk about cars, I have always liked the programme, but I cant stand him. FWIW i am not interested in his worthless opinions.

The other bloke is abit annoying, but I do like Hammond.

Hammond should do it on his own or recruit a new team.

Does anyone know who is the stig? I like him, he doesnt talk b----ks and just drives great.

foxinsocks · 30/01/2007 11:02

did you see that bloke from The Office over Xmas time doing his stand up thing?

belgianmama · 30/01/2007 11:02

Oh you think it was about the brain injury? Hm, I must be a bit slow then. I suppost being a bit slow protects me from being insulted by JC's type of humour, although suffering years DH's humour might have done the same trick.

Cappuccino · 30/01/2007 11:15

foxinsocks if you mean ricky gervais, I have seen him make comments about disability before and everyone thinks it's so ironic

but he did it in The Office as David Brent and he does it in standup as himself; in fact I have seen him do it every time I see him. I honestly don't believe that most of his audience get the 'irony' and just believe that it's the 1970s all over again and we're allowed to laugh at cripples

Jeremy Clarkson is who he is, everyone knows he's politically incorrect, and I think it's a more honest use of humour. He's not trying to be a smug clever git like Gervais

I'm off for a lie down now before my whole head turns into