The BBC announced on Wednesday that it has dropped Jeremy Clarkson after the Top Gear presenter was responsible for an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” that left a colleague bleeding and seeking hospital treatment.
BBC director general Tony Hall said he took the decision to end Clarkson’s BBC career “with great regret”, 16 days after he was suspended following a “fracas” with a member of the Top Gear production team, but said the presenter had “crossed a line”.
A BBC investigation led by BBC Scotland boss Ken MacQuarrie found that Clarkson had subjected Oisin Tymon to a 30-second physical attack after a sustained verbal tirade. Tymon took himself to an A&E department after the assault.
It emerged on Wednesday that Clarkson could face a police investigation into his attack on Tymon after North Yorkshire police asked the BBC for a copy of MacQuarrie’s report.
Hall said Clarkson had “crossed a line” by subjecting an “innocent party [to] a physical altercation accompanied by sustained and prolonged verbal abuse of an extreme nature”. He added: “I cannot condone what has happened on this occasion.”
