The British car program Top Gear is one of the most popular programs on the BBC. Just last week it won an award for best factual program at the National TV Awards in the UK. One of the reasons why Top Gear is so popular is that the show’s hosts, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, and James May, are known for their edgy insults. However, Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond may have gone one step too far when he uttered some racist statements about Mexicans while reviewing a Mexican sports car called the Mastretta.
“Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat,” said Hammond, adding onto his idea that sports cars reflect specific elements of the national character. The hosts later referred to Mexican food as “refried sick.”
Mexico’s ambassador to Great Britain, Eduardo Medina Mora, is very much not pleased by these jibes, which he feels are incredibly racist, even if he did leave out a reference to drug-smuggling. While I’m not normally one to jump to join the racism cry, for someone on television to utter such thoughts (even in a joking manner) is playing with fire. I’d imagine Mexican Miss Universe Jimena Navarette is also not pleased.
“The presenters of the programme resorted to outrageous, vulgar and inexcusable insults to stir bigoted feelings against the Mexican people, their culture, as well as their official representative in the United Kingdom,” wrote Ambassador Mora in a letter to the BBC. “These offensive, xenophobic and humiliating remarks only serve to reinforce negative stereotypes and perpetuate prejudice against Mexico and its people.”
Tags: BBC television, Top Gear, Richard Hammond, racism on television, Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond makes racist remarks against Mexicans, Mastretta, Mexican sports car racism, Eduardo Medina Mora, Mexican Ambassador to Great Britain offended by Top Gear remarks, Richard Hammond Top Gear, Richard Hammond racist quote
