BBC Suspends Host, James May has confirmed that Jeremy Clarkson was involved in "a bit of dust up" with a producer in an apparent row over catering arrangements during location filming.
Clarkson, 54, is reported to have hit Oisin Tymon, 36, after being told no dinner had been laid on for the presenters after they finished filming for the BBC2 show one evening last week.
Speaking for the first time since this week's Top Gear was cancelled, May was asked by reporters outside his home in London whether Clarkson was innocent.
He said: "No, I think he has been involved in a bit if a dust up, but I don't think it's that serious."
He said he was not there during the incident but confirmed it happened over dinner.
The "fracas" happened in Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales, where the team was filming last week. Clarkson, May and Hammond stayed at the Simonstone Hall Hotel in Hawes on March 4, but staff there refused to say if that was where the alleged incident happened.
The incident was only reported to the Corporation on Monday, resulting in Clarkson's suspension on Tuesday morning, a decision that was taken with the blessing of Lord Hall, the BBC director-general.
The remaining three episodes of the current series have been pulled from the schedules and the BBC refuses to discuss whether it will ever return.
When May was initially asked if Clarkson was innocent, he said: "Of being a knob? No."
He tried to get back into his garage, where he keeps his collection of motorbikes, but said: "I have managed to lock myself out, that's embarrassing," before going through the front door.
It has also emerged that the three presenters could walk away from Top Gear before the BBC's investigation into Clarkson's behaviour is concluded, as their contracts expire at the the end of this month and they have not yet signed new three-year deals that were expected to be completed within days.
Although the BBC owns the rights to Top Gear, Sky has made repeated attempts to lure Clarkson and his co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond to the channel to make a new motoring show, and there is speculation Clarkson may now decide the time is right to move on.
A source told The Sun: "Jeremy had a massive bust-up with one of the male show producers and he ended up smacking him in the face. Everyone was absolutely stunned.
"It was all over a catering issue. Jeremy just saw red and hit the assistant producer, who he blamed for not having organised the food."
The Daily Mirror quoted a source saying: "They came to the end of filming after a long day and Jeremy discovered that no food had been laid on. He just saw red and hit the assistant producer, who he blamed for not having organised the food. He snapped."
A source close to Clarkson insisted he was innocent and that "he didn't punch anyone".Filming for this Sunday’s episode, which should have taken place on Wednesday, was cancelled and no more episodes will be broadcast while an investigation is being carried out.
If the complaint against Clarkson is upheld, the BBC will have little choice but to sack him, as it was made clear to him last year that he was on a final warning after a racism row after claims that he used the n-word during filming.
It was just one among many racist and xenophobic comments over the years, and critics had complained that Clarkson was being given special treatment by the BBC because of the immense profitability of Top Gear, which is sold to 214 territories and is the most popular factual television programme in the world.
A BBC spokeswoman said: "Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation.
"No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time."
Clarkson refused to comment on the incident as he arrived at his London home on Tuesday night, but later made light of the incident in a Twitter exchange with his co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond.Meanwhile Clarkson's daughter Emily joked that she needed the BBC to give him his job back because he had started cooking.
The BBC is understood to have banned all staff from talking about the incident which, unlike Clarkson’s previous gaffes, involves another member of staff and could result in a grievance procedure.
Although the BBC owns the format of Top Gear after buying the rights in 2012 from Clarkson and his executive producer Andy Wilman, Clarkson is the undoubted star and it is unclear whether Hammond and May would carry on without him if he were to be sacked.
Within minutes of news of his suspension breaking, fans of Clarkson had started an online petition to have him reinstated. More than 130,000 people have so far signed the petition.
This Sunday’s episode of Top Gear should have featured Gary Linkeker as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, but Lineker and the studio audience with tickets for filming at Top Gear’s base at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey were told yesterday they would not be needed.
Clarkson has been a fixture on Top Gear since 1988, but it was following the BBC’s decision to relaunch the show in 2002, in a brash new format with Clarkson as the only presenter to survive the reboot, that he transformed himself into a worldwide star.
But controversy has never been far away. Last year alone, he was forced to apologise after mumbling the n-word as he recited a nursery rhyme during filming; he was found to have breached Ofcom guidelines after referring to an Asian man as a “slope”, and caused a riot in Argentina by driving a Porsche with a number-plate that appeared to refer to the Falklands War.
He said last year: "I've been told by the BBC that if I make one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time, I will be sacked. And even the angel Gabriel would struggle to survive with that hanging over his head."
Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, was said to have intervened to save Clarkson after the n-word row, but Danny Cohen, the BBC’s head of television, has previously insisted Clarkson was not too valuable to sack, claiming: "It's like football clubs: no one is bigger than the club. There's no one show or person that's bigger than the BBC, and that's made clear to anyone who works there."
Clarkson, 54, is reported to have hit Oisin Tymon, 36, after being told no dinner had been laid on for the presenters after they finished filming for the BBC2 show one evening last week.
Speaking for the first time since this week's Top Gear was cancelled, May was asked by reporters outside his home in London whether Clarkson was innocent.
He said: "No, I think he has been involved in a bit if a dust up, but I don't think it's that serious."
He said he was not there during the incident but confirmed it happened over dinner.
The "fracas" happened in Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales, where the team was filming last week. Clarkson, May and Hammond stayed at the Simonstone Hall Hotel in Hawes on March 4, but staff there refused to say if that was where the alleged incident happened.
The incident was only reported to the Corporation on Monday, resulting in Clarkson's suspension on Tuesday morning, a decision that was taken with the blessing of Lord Hall, the BBC director-general.
The remaining three episodes of the current series have been pulled from the schedules and the BBC refuses to discuss whether it will ever return.
When May was initially asked if Clarkson was innocent, he said: "Of being a knob? No."
He tried to get back into his garage, where he keeps his collection of motorbikes, but said: "I have managed to lock myself out, that's embarrassing," before going through the front door.
It has also emerged that the three presenters could walk away from Top Gear before the BBC's investigation into Clarkson's behaviour is concluded, as their contracts expire at the the end of this month and they have not yet signed new three-year deals that were expected to be completed within days.
Although the BBC owns the rights to Top Gear, Sky has made repeated attempts to lure Clarkson and his co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond to the channel to make a new motoring show, and there is speculation Clarkson may now decide the time is right to move on.
A source told The Sun: "Jeremy had a massive bust-up with one of the male show producers and he ended up smacking him in the face. Everyone was absolutely stunned.
"It was all over a catering issue. Jeremy just saw red and hit the assistant producer, who he blamed for not having organised the food."
The Daily Mirror quoted a source saying: "They came to the end of filming after a long day and Jeremy discovered that no food had been laid on. He just saw red and hit the assistant producer, who he blamed for not having organised the food. He snapped."
A source close to Clarkson insisted he was innocent and that "he didn't punch anyone".Filming for this Sunday’s episode, which should have taken place on Wednesday, was cancelled and no more episodes will be broadcast while an investigation is being carried out.
If the complaint against Clarkson is upheld, the BBC will have little choice but to sack him, as it was made clear to him last year that he was on a final warning after a racism row after claims that he used the n-word during filming.
It was just one among many racist and xenophobic comments over the years, and critics had complained that Clarkson was being given special treatment by the BBC because of the immense profitability of Top Gear, which is sold to 214 territories and is the most popular factual television programme in the world.
A BBC spokeswoman said: "Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation.
"No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time."
Clarkson refused to comment on the incident as he arrived at his London home on Tuesday night, but later made light of the incident in a Twitter exchange with his co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond.Meanwhile Clarkson's daughter Emily joked that she needed the BBC to give him his job back because he had started cooking.
The BBC is understood to have banned all staff from talking about the incident which, unlike Clarkson’s previous gaffes, involves another member of staff and could result in a grievance procedure.
Although the BBC owns the format of Top Gear after buying the rights in 2012 from Clarkson and his executive producer Andy Wilman, Clarkson is the undoubted star and it is unclear whether Hammond and May would carry on without him if he were to be sacked.
Within minutes of news of his suspension breaking, fans of Clarkson had started an online petition to have him reinstated. More than 130,000 people have so far signed the petition.
This Sunday’s episode of Top Gear should have featured Gary Linkeker as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, but Lineker and the studio audience with tickets for filming at Top Gear’s base at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey were told yesterday they would not be needed.
Clarkson has been a fixture on Top Gear since 1988, but it was following the BBC’s decision to relaunch the show in 2002, in a brash new format with Clarkson as the only presenter to survive the reboot, that he transformed himself into a worldwide star.
But controversy has never been far away. Last year alone, he was forced to apologise after mumbling the n-word as he recited a nursery rhyme during filming; he was found to have breached Ofcom guidelines after referring to an Asian man as a “slope”, and caused a riot in Argentina by driving a Porsche with a number-plate that appeared to refer to the Falklands War.
He said last year: "I've been told by the BBC that if I make one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time, I will be sacked. And even the angel Gabriel would struggle to survive with that hanging over his head."
Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, was said to have intervened to save Clarkson after the n-word row, but Danny Cohen, the BBC’s head of television, has previously insisted Clarkson was not too valuable to sack, claiming: "It's like football clubs: no one is bigger than the club. There's no one show or person that's bigger than the BBC, and that's made clear to anyone who works there."
