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TV Personality Caught in Uproar Over N-Word

May 2, 2014  •  Post A Comment

A personality on a popular TV show is caught in an uproar after he allegedly used the N-word during a taping of the show. CNN reports that the controversy is centered on Jeremy Clarkson, host of BBC's "Top Gear."

Footage of Clarkson using the racial slur war reportedly posted online by the U.K. publication The Daily Mirror.

"Clarkson mumbled the N-word while reciting the children's nursery rhyme 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' to choose between two cars. That version of the take was never aired," CNN reports. "Clarkson posted an online explanation Thursday in which he said he was 'begging for forgiveness' — and argued that he had done everything he could to avoid using the word."

Said Clarkson: "Ordinarily, I don't respond to newspaper allegations, but on this occasion, I feel I must make an exception."

"Clarkson said that in filming the section a couple of years ago, he was very keen to avoid using the offensive term in a version of the nursery rhyme and mumbled it on two takes before replacing it with the word 'teacher' on a third," CNN reports.

Clarkson added: "When I viewed this footage several weeks later, I realized that in one of the versions, if I listened very carefully with the sound turned right up, that I had actually used the word I was trying to obscure.

"I was mortified by this, horrified. It's a word I loathe, and I did everything in my power to make sure that that version did not appear in the program."

The report notes that Clarkson contacted the production office to make sure a different take made it to air.

"Clarkson initially denied the report by the Mirror, tweeting, 'I did not use the n word. Never use it. The Mirror has gone way too far this time,'" the CNN report notes, adding: "But after the newspaper posted the footage in question online and amid calls from some quarters for his resignation, the presenter was forced to backtrack. He posted his video message less than 12 hours after his initial denial."

BBC issued a statement in which it said: "Jeremy Clarkson has set out the background to this regrettable episode. We have made it absolutely clear to him, the standards the BBC expects on air and off. We have left him in no doubt about how seriously we view this."

jeremy clarkson.jpgJeremy Clarkson

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