BBC refuses to apologise over ‘offensive, tasteless’ jokes on Indian culture

London: The BBC has refused to apologise for broadcasting a Top Gear special in December, which was widely criticised for offending India, and resulted in a complaint from the Indian High Commission over its cultural insensitivity.

 

Many viewers complained to The BBC that in a Top Gear India Special episode, presenter Jeremy Clarkson made several controversial remarks about India’s clothing, trains, food and history.

 

The Indian High Commission in London condemned the programme as 'tasteless', and accused the BBC of breaching undertakings about the filming.

 

The BBC has now responded for the first time to say the show did not display a 'hostile or superior attitude', The Telegraph reports.

 

The broadcaster said the jokes on the programme were at the expense of presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, rather than the Indian people.

 

The Top Gear road trip across India was filled with incidents but none of them were an insult to the Indian people or the culture of the country, a statement on the BBC’s complaints website said.

 

Our film showed the charm, the beauty, the wealth, the poverty and the idiosyncrasies of India but there’s a vast difference between showing a country, warts and all, and insulting it. It's simply not the case that we displayed a hostile or superior attitude to our hosts and that’s very clear from the way the presenters can be seen to interact with them along the way, it said.

 

We genuinely loved our time in India and if there were any jokes to be had they were, as ever, reflected back on the presenters rather than the Indian people, it added.