Jeremy Clarkson was not “technically” fired from the BBC's Top Gear following his infamous altercation with a producer, according to his former co-presenters. Richard Hammond and James May made the assertion as the trio launched their new Amazon Prime Video show, The Grand Tour.
The debut episode, titled The Holy Trinity, was released on Friday and features Clarkson, Hammond, and May testing the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, and Ferrari LaFerrari on a new track in Portugal. The opening sequence, rumoured to have cost £2.5 million, shows Clarkson leaving a shiny London office under storm clouds and taking a black cab while listening to radio reports of his departure from the BBC.
Hammond described Clarkson as “basically a shaved ape in a shirt” and noted that he “technically is the only one of us never to be fired by anyone.” Clarkson responded, “The good thing is it's very unlikely I'm going to be fired now because we're on the internet, which means I could pleasure a horse ... dog?” He described their roles in the series, where each episode is presented from a different country, as being like “gypsies,” adding, “Only the cars we drive are going to be insured.”
Clarkson left the BBC in March last year after punching producer Oisin Tymon, giving him a bloody lip. His contract was not renewed, and Hammond and May followed him to Amazon's subscription streaming service. Clarkson later issued a formal apology as part of a settlement to resolve a racial discrimination and personal injury claim.
