WATCH: Suspended host Jeremy Clarkson has a reputation for bad behaviour, but how bad is too bad with someone so popular? Stuart Greer reports.
LONDON – An off-set altercation has imperiled car show Top Gear one of the BBC’s most lucrative productions.
BBC News said Wednesday that the broadcaster has postponed the three remaining episodes after suspending host Jeremy Clarkson over a reported “fracas” with a producer.
Co-host James May characterized the incident between Clarkson and the producer as “a bit of a dustup.”
“But I don’t think it’s that serious,” he added.
WATCH: Suspended host Jeremy Clarkson joked that he was headed to an unemployment centre to media outside of his home Wednesday.
Top Gear‘s blend of car humour and blokey banter has won it legions of fans. The current season was launched simultaneously in more than 50 countries (it airs on BBC Canada) and the BBC has sold the format for locally produced versions in the U.S., China, Russia, Australia and South Korea.
It has also attracted controversy, much of it attached to Clarkson, the best-known of the three main presenters.
In October, the Top Gear crew was forced to flee Argentina after facing violent protests for allegedly referencing the 1982 Falkland Islands war on a license plate.
WATCH: Watch former Top Gear host Chris Goffey talk about Jeremy Clarkson.
Last year Clarkson asked for forgiveness following allegations that he used the racist n-word during filming for the show. He said at the time had been given a “final warning” by producers.
In 2011, the BBC apologized to Mexico after Clarkson and his co-hosts characterized Mexicans as lazy and oafish.
Will Wyatt, a former director of BBC television, said the broadcaster could try to continue Top Gear without Clarkson, but “it would be a bit like the Musketeers without D’Artagnan.”
“He is certainly the major personality in it and a huge part of its appeal,” Wyatt said.
Top Gear airs on BBC Canada, part of Shaw Media, parent company of Global News.
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