Tony Hall, the BBC director-general, just released the following statement:
"It is with great regret that I have told Jeremy Clarkson today that the BBC will not be renewing his contract. It is not a decision I have taken lightly. I have done so only after a very careful consideration of the facts and after personally meeting both Jeremy and Oisin Tymon.
I am grateful to Ken MacQuarrie for the thorough way he has conducted an
investigation of the incident on 4th March. Given the obvious and very genuine
public interest in this I am publishing the findings of his report. I take no
pleasure in doing so. I am only making them public so people can better understand
the background. I know how popular the programme is and I also know that this
decision will divide opinion. The main facts are not disputed by those
involved.
I want to make three points.
First – The BBC is a broad church. Our strength in many ways lies in
that diversity. We need distinctive and different voices but they cannot come
at any price. Common to all at the BBC have to be standards of decency and
respect. I cannot condone what has happened on this occasion. A member of staff
– who is a completely innocent party – took himself to Accident and Emergency
after a physical altercation accompanied by sustained and prolonged verbal
abuse of an extreme nature. For me a line has been crossed. There cannot be one
rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank, or public
relations and commercial considerations.
Second – This has obviously been difficult for everyone involved but in
particular for Oisin. I want to make clear that no blame attaches to him for
this incident. He has behaved with huge integrity throughout. As a senior
producer at the BBC he will continue to have an important role within the
organisation in the future.
Third – Obviously none of us wanted to find ourselves in this position.
This decision should in no way detract from the extraordinary contribution that
Jeremy Clarkson has made to the BBC. I have always personally been a great fan
of his work and Top Gear. Jeremy is a huge talent. He may be leaving the BBC
but I am sure he will continue to entertain, challenge and amuse audiences for
many years to come.
The BBC must now look to renew Top Gear for 2016. This will be a big
challenge and there is no point in pretending otherwise. I have asked Kim
Shillinglaw to look at how best we might take this forward over the coming
months. I have also asked her to look at how we put out the last programmes in
the current series."
