[m42stanle]

Originally Posted by M3_WC

How about any major sports team and their star athlete on the team. You think Lebron James would get fired. Hell f*cking no.

Well "terminated with cause" has a slightly different meaning in pro sports but I think we have some clear examples from the last 5-10 yrs showing that there are lines which cannot be crossed even in those settings (even for Lebron James).

The closest example I think of off the top of my head would be Tiger Woods. Think back to mid-2009 and recall his position as the "golden boy" of the sport. Kids had his picture up on their walls, sponsors were scrambling to sign him, he was on top of the world and then -poof- just like that it's all over because of a few instances of bad judgment. He was dropped by all of his major sponsors, his game went down the toilet and is even today still struggling to recover.

Ray Rice is another example, in that case a pro athlete sanctioned by the league and dropped by his team like a hot turd. His actions were of course much more serious, resulting in criminal charges (and to be fair I think his indefinite league suspension was overturned although I'm sure no sponsor would touch him with a 10-ft pole right now).

I think you may be overestimating the amount of tolerance both the leagues and sponsors have for shenanigans nowadays. As with a lot of jobs you can get away with some stuff if you are truly talented and/or well liked, but there are always lines.

[m42stanle]

Originally Posted by EMITTR

Marxist? Who said Marxist? Domestic Violence? Are they now an item? Victim of what...a fat lip and damaged ego? Really? You believe that?

My reference to domestic violence was simply to show the absurd extreme of that line of reasoning, the attempt to shift blame from the guy doing the sucker punching to the guy getting sucker punched. We need to shift the blame back where it belongs. (BTW You don't have to take my word for it, Clarkson himself said the same thing in one the few quotes he gave after the firing was announced)

Believe me I am as big a TG fan as anyone here (rewatched S12 ep 1, 2 and 3 last night and will watch a couple more episodes after posting this) but as I said earlier my position is that the BBC did not overreact by any stretch in sacking him. Given the facts I think their reaction was measured and the outcome was quite predictable. FWIW as well I think any arguments about existing "friction" with the BBC, that the network was out to get him, or that Clarkson was on his last warning are academic - a physical attack like that is so far over the line of any company's code of conduct (especially a Crown corp like BBC) that even taken in isolation it would be a fireable offense regardless of any commercial or business considerations.

My reaction rather was that we were all profoundly let down by Clarkson here. He showed us that his on screen "everyman" persona, the working class roots, non-PC, racist-but-not-too-racist guy is a myth. He is in fact just a wealthy, entitled primadonna who lost control of himself over a dinner order.

IMHO the petition should not be "BBC reinstate Clarkson" it should instead be "Clarkson we demand you present yourself to be placed in the stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes for exhibiting spectacularly bad judgment, and causing the cancellation of our favourite show. Shame."

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by m42stanle

the petition should not be "BBC reinstate Clarkson" it should instead be "Clarkson we demand you present yourself to be placed in the stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes for exhibiting spectacularly bad judgment, and causing the cancellation of our favourite show. Shame."

Yup. I can only judge Clarkson from the 2 minutes I've ever watched him and the one article I read of his: he's completely useless to me. And now he's made himself useless to everyone else who found some worth in his clown act.

In nerd terms Clarkson's a no-op.

[ShocknAwe]

Or he's a guy that's had too much work drama, corporate sanctions, and a nasty mess of a divorce and it caught up to him.

Let's see how you handle all that.

[galahad05]

A nicely done op ed piece on Clarkson at Road and Track.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...-he-damned-it/

[AW335TT]

[hellrotm]

Originally Posted by galahad05

A nicely done op ed piece on Clarkson at Road and Track.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...-he-damned-it/

Good read.

[Golden Arrow]

Originally Posted by AW335TT

This is great.

[EMITTR]

Originally Posted by m42stanle

My reference to domestic violence was simply to show the absurd extreme of that line of reasoning, the attempt to shift blame from the guy doing the sucker punching to the guy getting sucker punched. We need to shift the blame back where it belongs. (BTW You don't have to take my word for it, Clarkson himself said the same thing in one the few quotes he gave after the firing was announced)

Believe me I am as big a TG fan as anyone here (rewatched S12 ep 1, 2 and 3 last night and will watch a couple more episodes after posting this) but as I said earlier my position is that the BBC did not overreact by any stretch in sacking him. Given the facts I think their reaction was measured and the outcome was quite predictable. FWIW as well I think any arguments about existing "friction" with the BBC, that the network was out to get him, or that Clarkson was on his last warning are academic - a physical attack like that is so far over the line of any company's code of conduct (especially a Crown corp like BBC) that even taken in isolation it would be a fireable offense regardless of any commercial or business considerations.

My reaction rather was that we were all profoundly let down by Clarkson here. He showed us that his on screen "everyman" persona, the working class roots, non-PC, racist-but-not-too-racist guy is a myth. He is in fact just a wealthy, entitled primadonna who lost control of himself over a dinner order.

IMHO the petition should not be "BBC reinstate Clarkson" it should instead be "Clarkson we demand you present yourself to be placed in the stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes for exhibiting spectacularly bad judgment, and causing the cancellation of our favourite show. Shame."

I can agree with that (viewers suffer) and really that is the end result of all this - the viewership who followed the show are the ones who get the short end of the stick. Tymon still could have walked away in 20 minutes he had and Clarkson could have never thrown the punch - again it seems as if they just wanted him gone.

[EMITTR]

It also seems someone felt compelled to introduce theirself with this PM and new user id:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by dhouserk7348

Die painfully okay? Prefearbly by getting crushed to death in a
garbage compactor, by getting your face cut to ribbons with a
pocketknife, your head cracked open with a baseball bat, your stomach
sliced open and your entrails spilled out, and your eyeballs ripped
out of their sockets. fvcking btch



I really hope that you get curb-stomped. It'd be hilarious to see you
begging for help, and then someone stomps on the back of your head,
leaving you to die in horrible, agonizing pain. fggot


STFU, before you get your face bashed in and cut
to ribbons, and your throat slit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
And you thought Clarkson was bad

[galahad05]

Originally Posted by EMITTR

It also seems someone felt compelled to introduce theirself with this PM and new user id:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
And you thought Clarkson was bad

No call for that mess here. Sheesh.

No matter the reason.

[EMITTR]

Originally Posted by galahad05

No call for that mess here. Sheesh.

No matter the reason.

No worries.

[socal135]

Originally Posted by M3_WC

How about any major sports team and their star athlete on the team. You think Lebron James would get fired. Hell f*cking no.

How about Kobe with the Lakers?

[neliconcept]

Originally Posted by socal135

How about Kobe with the Lakers?

Because the owner and the commissioner didn't give a fuck. With Clarkson, the BBC is full of pussies.

[omegaSMP300]

Originally Posted by AW335TT

Hah. That's awesome! Thanks for posting this.

[AW335TT]

Originally Posted by omegaSMP300

Hah. That's awesome! Thanks for posting this.

.. Fk, I'm going to miss the show..

[EMITTR]

The offers have started:

http://jalopnik.com/hey-jeremy-clark...nik-1690829093

And TG Producer leaves shoe with Clarkson:

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...arkson-sacking

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by EMITTR

The offers have started:

http://jalopnik.com/hey-jeremy-clark...nik-1690829093

And TG Producer leaves shoe with Clarkson:

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...arkson-sacking

Yup, only a matter of time. There will be a resurrection.

[Golden Arrow]

Hammond, May, and Clarkson will be touring and doing the "Top Gear Live" shows, as they've already sold over 200,000 tickets. The catch: they can't call it Top Gear Live, or use any BBC copyrighted material, to include The Stig.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ocial-facebook

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Golden Arrow

Hammond, May, and Clarkson will be touring and doing the "Top Gear Live" shows, as they've already sold over 200,000 tickets. The catch: they can't call it Top Gear Live, or use any BBC copyrighted material, to include The Stig.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ocial-facebook

So, they already sold the tickets, renamed the event, and are having Jezza do it anyways?

[Golden Arrow]

Apparently they've sold over 200,000 tickets already. They can't use BBC copyrighted material, so I'm guessing it's something the three set up prior to Clarkson's removal.

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Golden Arrow

Apparently they've sold over 200,000 tickets already. They can't use BBC copyrighted material, so I'm guessing it's something the three set up prior to Clarkson's removal.

So is it just something the three of them are doing, or is the BBC still involved? I thought it was a BBC operated venture, so I found it weird that they pulled the Top Gear name, the Stig, and all BBC intellectual property. Makes me think they basically pulled their share of the profit and walked.