5 times Jeremy Clarkson Was An Idiot

Clarkson's been at it again.

After being sacked from Top Gear, presenter Jeremy Clarkson has landed himself in hot water during a live show in Johannesburg, making a joke about the killing of Reeva Steenkamp by former paralympian Oscar Pistorius.

The gag came as the host pretended to accidentally shoot an audience member with a paintball gun, quipping “I thought he was a burglar," -  to which his partner-in-crime James May then asked: “Was that member of the audience you shot in the bathroom?” And as you can see in the blurry fan videos which captured the event, the words 'lead' and 'balloon' come to mind.

Too soon? Whatever you make of that tabloid-baiting banter, anyone remotely aware of Clarkson will know this isn't the first time his mouth has got him into bother.

So - not including the now well publicised hot food-gate - here are a few of his most controversial moments...

All that stuff in the 'Argentina Special'

When the Top Gear lads went on a jolly to Argentina, they never expected (honestly) to cause an international incident. The presenters' cars had number plates that appeared to reference the Falkands conflict and the locals weren’t happy about it. They literally ran them out of the country and prompted awkward conversations for several ambassadors.

That time he joked about executing public sector workers 

Why on earth you would ask Jeremy Clarkson for his opinion on striking public sector workers is beyond us. Maybe One Show hosts Alex Jones and Matt Baker had run out of questions? Maybe they wanted a headline. Either way, Clarkson misjudged his level of comic brutality and started throwing around execution gags on a dinnertime TV slot. Not terribly BBC.

When he referenced a little-known drink

Even when saying something nice, he manages to sail a little too close to the wind. In this case, racist winds. Congratulating his Top Gear co-workers on a job well done, he advised them to have a "black cock on me". Had he capitalised the name of this Thai Whiskey, it might have avoided at least some of the bemused fallout.

And when he annoyed the world’s lorry drivers

Top Gear is a scripted show. The producers know what’s going to be said. The editors know what’s going to make it into the final episode. It's understandable when Clarkson doesn’t turn on his BBC filters in moments of live television, but a list of people were at fault for letting him annoy every lorry driver in the country with a "harmless" joke about murdering prostitutes.

That Time He Punched Piers Morgan

The BBC producer at the heart of Clarkson’s suspension isn't the only person to have felt the fury of the Top Gear honcho. Piers Morgan was one such man. "The ghastly little weasel" as Clarkson later put it in his Sunday Times column, claimed Piers insulted his wife at an awards show. He duly responded by punching the other Marmite media personality in the face. And once more for good measure, breaking his finger. HAHA because violence is funny.

(Image: Rex)