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Jeremy Clarkson rebuked by BBC Trust over ‘Elephant Man’ remarks

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By John Glenday, Reporter

October 2, 2012 | 2 min read

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been found to have breached BBC guidelines (again) after comparing a vehicle to the Elephant Man.

The motor mouth presenter made the disparaging remarks whilst trialling a Toyota Prius camper van, when he likened it to someone with ‘a growth on their face’ before nicknaming it the ‘elephant car’.

Expounding upon his description Clarkson continued by saying ‘“not a car that you could talk to at a party unless you were looking at something else”.

Ruling on the comments the BBC Trust found that Clarkson had breached their guidelines by making an ‘offensive stereotypical assumption’, adding that the remark was not ‘editorially justified’.

In their report the Trust said: “The committee accepted that the remark was exaggerated for comic effect, but believed that some viewers may find this particular remark, taken within the whole context of the exchange, to be a purposeless stereotype.”

James Partridge, the founder of the disfigurement charity Changing Faces, said: “This is a small step towards changing attitudes. It is vital that people with disfigurements are not seen as fair game for low-level jibes which are unacceptable and cruel.”

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