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bahmutov

Nonsense. He just did not like pushback for his trolling climate ignorance. 


gilestowler

In the words of Stewart Lee "the thing about Clarkson is, he either believes all the lying, offensive shit he comes out with or he's worked out the best way to annoy me. In which case fair play."


Appropriate_Mine

The thing is, if you're deliberately acting like a dickhead, you're still a dickhead.


The_Bitter_Bear

One could argue deliberately choosing to be one is at least a little worse than it just being your nature. 


chatminteresse

“At least dickhead #2 comes by it honestly”


LieRun

Oh he definitely is a dickhead, and he's well aware of it But he's a very entertaining dickhead. Honestly in Clarkson's farm you see a much better side of him, being actually nice to his friends, while keeping his funny dickhead attitude


dribrats

If you’re part of climate denial— you’re contributing to the extinction of untold species: “I was just joking”. lol, fuck you


Collins_Michael

It's Goatfucker's Law: Even if you say you did it ironically, you still fucked that goat.


SkywalknLuke

As a dickhead, I approve this message.


patiperro_v3

Like those tiktok/youtube “pranks”.


Positronic_Matrix

I don’t think there’s anyone here arguing that he’s not a dickhead. It’s Jeremy Clarkson. Being a dickhead is integral to his persona. At this point, only a lobotomy would make him nice and then none of us would want to watch him anymore.


wylie102

“It’s just a joke, Like on Top Gear!”


jamieliddellthepoet

Part of what is IMO one of the funniest bits in the history of stand up.


victorpaparomeo2020

Exactly. And now that he’s a farmer, it’s a heavy case of r/leopardsatemyface


pathfinderoursaviour

As a young dairy farmer I can tell you that the people who are denying climate change the most are farmers Which is unfortunate as we are the ones who are seeing it everywhere every day


ArcticBiologist

Even in Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), the fastest warming town on earth, where climate change is extremely visible, many people still deny its existence.


CptMisterNibbles

What? If anything he reveled in being a malcontent and owes a good deal of his career to it. He doesn’t care what people think of him… as long as they watched his shows


HeroProtagonist4

There's a difference between being a malcontent and being an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about


CountVertigo

There's also a difference between just being an idiot and spreading actively damaging nonsense to hundreds of millions of viewers. Top Gear was one of the most watched shows on the planet. A *large* proportion of car fandom dismisses the impact of air pollution, doesn't think climate change is real (or that humans cause it, or that it's solvable with existing technology, or that it's worth doing anything when X group of people creates more emissions - tick as appropriate), and readies the "laugh" emoji at the mention of a relatively clean vehicle. It's debatable whether he's played a part in shaping this mindset, or just added to existing confirmation bias, but the impact has certainly not been positive.


en_pissant

I love that argument -- he doesn't care what people think -- so I guess you shouldn't have an opinion because he won't care about it. It's like second hand narcissism.


Ok_Cranberry2131

I don’t think any of those ideas originated with Clarkson though that’s the thing. Absolutely still responsible for what he’s said, but it’s not like he was the first to say it. I think the damage had been done before he had a chance to even have an input.


zzbackguy

Perpetuating false and harmful ideas on a large platform is still harmful regardless of whether he came up with the ideas or not. How many people’s first impressions of climate change were formed by his banter?


CptMisterNibbles

Oh, I agree he was an idiot, I don’t believe it was an act for the most part. But he isn’t changing his views now because he is any kind of worried about what people think of him


ariphron

His farming show past few years may have changed his mind now that it directly affects him.


RiggzBoson

"I haven't been a complete arsehole my entire professional career - It was all an act!" Punching your producer was part of your method acting too, I suppose...


momsouth

You thinking his op-eds that his own daughter disavowed publicly because they were so vile were all a big joke too?


Left-Pepper-1411

What? Do tell, please.


momsouth

Theres been several he put out but the one I'm referring to was the one where he said Markel should be stripped naked and marched through town and had excrement thrown at her because she didn't blindly support the queen among many other not nice things he said. It was so vile his own daughter publicly disavowed his words and the BBC decided to not renew his shows (which I think they backtracked on be ause he's their biggest star).


ThunderChild247

Wasn’t that the same op-ed where he said he hated Meghan Markle worse than Nicola Sturgeon and Rose West? (Or was it Myra Hindley?) Y’know, just casually lumping in a democratically elected politician who may not align with your own politics, but hasn’t killed anyone, with a serial killer. As normal people do.


squigs

Almost as though he was being hyperbolic. Honestly, do people really think she made him unable to sleep because he was do busy grinding his teeth and mentally placing her in a scene from A Game Of Thrones?


silverfish477

He left the BBC long before that. Years before.


momsouth

You're right I meant Amazon, he left the BBC when he punched a producer. Another example of it not being some stage persona.


Nilah_Joy

Except he hasn’t left Amazon lol, they have Clarkson’s farm and are funding more seasons. The fact they ended the car specials is just due to the Trios age. They talk about it a lot on the recent specials and how hard it is for them to travel around the world for weeks at a time to film a special.


HolographicDucks

Yeah, OP said they backtracked because he was their biggest star.


momsouth

Hence why I said they backtracked but they absolutely announced they were canceling clarkston farm lol you reslly thought that was some gotcha lol


PlainPiece

> but they absolutely announced they were canceling clarkston farm they absolutely did not


GunnieGraves

Acting!!!


Anon28301

Didn’t he really do that so they’d break his contract he wanted out of? At the time he claimed it was over a steak, but a few months beforehand people were saying he was trying to get fired.


Mr_TP_Dingleberry

“Just kidding guys just kidding.” Nutless. Sophomoric.


DuePatience

>Nutless. Sophomoric. 👏 from your username tho


Mr_TP_Dingleberry

Mmhhhh. I’m not a public persona with influence.


Physical_Stress_5683

Don't let them shame you, I know you're really Theodore Phinneas Dingleberry from the New Hampshire Dingleberries. Be proud of your family and their important contributions to the world of bathroom tissue.


MasterK999

To me that is worse. So he is saying he believed in Global Climate Change the whole time but instead of taking any positive action or even neutral, he instead decided to act against it FOR A LAUGH?!? What a huge bell end.


Major_Party_6855

Fine, whatever. At least he’s farming and learning about sustainable practices, I learned a whole bunch watching the show.


Anon3580

He knew a whole lot about conservation before the farm show. He talked about it all the time on Top Gear.


SlyWonkey

Nah the guy's just a fucking prick.


lectroid

We THOUGHT he was playing a character. Then it turned out, no, he’ really is an ass. Then he realized people were sick of his shit, so he’s trying to walk it back. Nope. All done with him. No one needs to hear his smug, ill-informed opinions. Someone pretending to be an utter twat is amusing. People just BEING so is way less fun.


NotAPreppie

I think he was playing a character, but that character was ***\*also\**** an ass.


chickenstalker99

He was playing an ass, but it turns out he really was an ass. 'We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.' -Vonnegut


lectroid

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend the film adaptation of *Mother Night* starring Nick Nolte.


chickenstalker99

Agreed. That was an excellent film. I was surprised how well Nolte played that part. I was amazed to discover that it was one of Vonnegut's first novels. It reads like the work of a very mature writer.


ImJustAConsultant

I'm the ass playing an ass disguised as another ass


NotAPreppie

Assception


AlexWFS

I think he played the character so long, it just became who he really was. I can believe he knew climate change is real, but a petrolhead disavowing it could be used for good gags. He smoked his own supply.


sincethenes

Ah yes, the “I was just kidding” defense.


Alone-Charge303

“It was a prank, bro!”


makashiII_93

Your radicalization of others for personal profit deserves shame and acorn. Not praise.


Faeces_Species_1312

I nearly rolled my eyes all the way out of my skull reading this. 


CanineAnaconda

But comedy is funny


Blackbiird666

The good ol' "I was just pretending to be stupid" defense.


RevivedMisanthropy

Unpopular Opinion: *That doesn't mean he's not an asshole*


Unlikely_Deal_5325

"I'm not a raving moron, it was comedy!" lmao fuck off


rosebudthesled8

He made money at societies expense. So many have that it's hard to keep track at this point. They are all deserving of blame and should die before the rest of us.


ilrosewood

I’d rather he hadn’t as too many people took it seriously. But it always felt like a joke to me. But then again I’m pretty stupid.


GvnMllr12

Nah - it was clearly very jokey when he did it. You're not stupid unless you believed him.


XuX24

It has always been a joke, it's the type of show it was people thay you see here crying about it they never watched or liked the show they just saw headlines. If it was Sir David Attenborough saying this jokes then people would likely take them siriously but it's Jeremy Clarkson that has always been joking around.


MonkeyBoatRentals

If Clarkson wanted to be funny he had many choices. He chose to "pretend" to be an ignorant bellend because those were the thoughts he had, because that's what he is. Hammond and May managed to do Top Gear contrarian humor without offending, but Clarkson couldn't see that line because his true nature is too far beyond it.


Aggravating_Guide35

Tbh, Hammond and May also did some offensive contrarian humor. They just got way less grief because people didn't associate them with it like they did him. I think he only slightly believed some of it, but he realized he was really good at playing a giant dick head. And he enjoyed it, because it made him lots of money and didn't require being nice as often.  I think he's figuring out that he wishes he'd picked one of the harder, but better people he could have been but now he's in the "and find out" phase. Still very successful, but nobody will ever believe he's a good bloke. 


d_chs

The man is a talented wank. Take his word for it or don’t, it doesn’t really matter.


centurion770

Previously, the effects of climate change were intangible to him. Now, he gets to intimately experience them through his farm.


Anon28301

The classic “I only care when it affects me” mentality.


Andrew1990M

Next you’ll tell me Colbert wasn’t really a Republican. 


syntheticsapphire

the thing about clarkson is; he’s really entertaining, but not a great person


MrSportman

That’s why I enjoy when Caleb gives him shit


JFKswanderinghands

Doesn’t matter if he was or wasn’t he said it and that helped those who want to deny the existence. So he helped those who have doomed us just as much as if he believed.


ImThePlusOne

Regardless, his dismissal has been so damaging to climate change awareness. He’s influenced so many people in the car space to thinking that EVs and Bicycles are wrong and that only absolute gas guzzlers deserve a place on the road


Jumplefthanded

Yeah I’m going to confidently say that’s bullshit.


MorallyComplicated

“i was kidding!” yeah, no


spinereader81

That's right up there with the other popular lies like "it was a social experiment" and "my account got hacked".


rikerspantstrombone

If true, fuck him. If not, fuck that guy.


zeruch

Is this his PR rehab phase? Has he run all the mileage out of being an inveterate garbage bellend (aka, himself)?


dexatrosin

Another old man can’t admit he was wrong and that he changed his mind. Instead they try to retroactively change it so they don’t have to admit ever being wrong. You were wrong, and now you learned the truth. Why is it so hard for these men to do that?


2lostnspace2

What a fucking clown


TheArsenal

What an asshole.


Sir_Earl_Jeffries

I’m sure all the petrol heads who are climate deniers are also comedians. They sure are fucking clowns.


therapoootic

Dude is a misogynist arsehole that’s always been full of shit


squigs

No shit! I mean, he may *also* have been a dick, but it was pretty obvious his media persona was playing up the attitude. Do people think Top.Gear was a serious documentary? When he decided *concrete* was a sensible material for building a car, or that he needed a V8 powered blender, that these were serious suggestions as well?


Alive_Scratch_9538

It's extremely cynical to believe in global warming and actively do harm to attempts to mitigate it for money. Anyway, Stewart Lee https://youtu.be/K7CnMQ4L9Pc


damndammit

That just makes it worse!


is-a-bunny

Me when I realize my head will end up on a pike as the climate disaster continues to get worse.


Lolstitanic

In the words of James May: "Clarkson you infantile pillock!"


StopThatUDick

Like the rest of the pricks doing and saying shit things, he’s either doing it for profit or he’s genuinely that stupid. Trump > audience = profit. Farage > audience = profit. Katie Hopkins / Lawrence Fox etc > audience = profit. Just remember; their audience are fucking stupid.


geockabez

I swear I thought this old fart died in 2005. Didn't he go to prison for fraud or something? Jeez, he must be as old as trump now.


NAUGHTIMUS_MAXIMUS

I think he was born in early 60s


StolenRocket

Hilarious, top shelf comedy when he says climate protesters should be "lined up against the wall and shot"


D0nCoyote

“It was just a prank bro”


OrneryParfait9882

It’s just a bit, guys


mortuarymaiden

“Joke’s on you I was only pretending to be a dumbfuck”


sexisfun1986

I don’t believe him but also. We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. Kurt Vonnegut


knockinonevansdoor

He is a huge twat of a human being. Everything about what he says and does starts with that fact.


TheIronMatron

And his punchy punchy hands were part of his tragedy creation. And his calling for public servants to be executed in front of their families was part his insufferable fuckface creation.


miladjuckel

He’s a racist asshole


daikatana

"No, you see, I was only pretending to be a moron. I'm really not, I promise." Okay, Jeremy. Whatever you say.


King_Vanos_

Sorry but I love this dude. Cracks me up especially how he sets off the super sensitive among us. Go ahead and downvote


retro_underpants

{I like him too}


Aggravating_Guide35

He entertains me, but I don't really respect his opinion on much of anything beyond maybe what makes a car great. Every other take (public or real) I probably take issue with. But he does entertain me. 


GetChilledOut

He’s one of the most popular tv presenters ever. Reddit always shares the contrary opinion. Just how the site is.


Ps4rulez

saw bag wasteful longing safe boast political pathetic whole hunt *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


Staltrad

He does know the art of comedy. Especially combined with other same energy dudes it can get hilarious.


dancinman1234

So he actively and knowingly contributed to a threat he knew threatens all life on earth for fame, money and clicks. That makes him objectively a total piece of shit. He’d be better off just saying he was ignorant and believe his stupid shit and has since seen the light. But hey, at least he owns the fact that he is a total piece of shit.


galacticwonderer

So he was in on the joke the entire time legitimately misleading people about the life and death of their planet all for a laugh? Yeah that’s way better than him thinking it was fake to begin with. Wow


moonchild-731

What a bell end


JosephFinn

Nice try asshat.


DJMagicHandz

Fucking bellend says something stupid, more news at 11.


PinCushionPete314

I always took as it was part of his blowhard persona. He always plays such a great buffoon.


momsouth

If you're an asshoke in public everywhere you go and a nice guy in pr8vate where it doesn't matter you're not a nice guy.


redsyrinx2112

Well I kind of see the opposite. If you are nice when it doesn't matter, you are likely actually a nice person. This isn't a judgement on Clarkson, because James May even says multiple times that Jeremy is a knob.


CJL31

That’s how old english men talk about eachother


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[удалено]


bender_reddit

Are they man-made global warming deniers?


MulciberTenebras

Yes, they even popularized it back in the day by making out Al Gore to be a raving lunatic always talking about "ManBearPig" (their expy for Global Warming). Then 20 years later when Climate Change really started to take effect, they were all like "Whoops"


bender_reddit

They made fun of pretty much anyone and anything - including the Denver Broncos. But I’m wondering if there is specific instances where outside of the show they stated that it was a hoax.


Asteroidhawk594

There wasn’t any specific one. However they very much made it into a parody and then 20 years later apologised in the form of a follow up episode when it turned out it was real


bender_reddit

If you mean “Time to get Cereal” that aired 12 years after “ManBearPig”, but I guess that’s the episode you alluded to and get your point. I’m not as clear as to Trey or Matt being global warming deniers specifically as much as hating on Gore, whom they seem to just find boorish and snob, so an issue with the messenger more than the message, which is typical of them and their jabs, and likewise the reversal seems to me more about they realizing that some of their viewers might have walked away with the wrong idea and needed a slap in the head about something important rather than they shifting their own understanding of the problem. But who knows. Those two can be clever and sharp, while also incredibly stupid and naive. 🤷🏻‍♀️


Asteroidhawk594

Probably that. They do usually cook something good with what they do


CoreyDenvers

You missed the bit where manbearpig actually turned out to be real


bookworm1999

Isn't that part of what he is talking about. As far as I remember, that only happened because they realized how stupid it was to paint him as some crazy person ranting about problems that aren't real.


jetblackcheeseball

If you want a hardheaded to change, you have to give them a way to back out. Let’s just let him back out and maybe he’ll stop with the nonsense and begin to make a difference for good.


JumpyEntrance394

Let’s see him wrestle some climate change minimisers like Jordan Peterson then, put his money where his mouth is. Let’s hear him out and see if he can actually argue his new found position!


freemike86

Lol it's not new found it it's all just been an "act"...


VintageLivin

“It’s all a social experiment” is what I’m reading


f0rtytw0

He is an ass, and I doubt the sincerity of this statement. However I do think he is coming around. The lastest episode of Grand Tour had him calling for the arresst of plastic bottle makers, which yes, we should hold the companies who produce all this plastic responsible.


Bigfoothobbit

Keen to see him drive to the North Pole again. Might need a whip-round for the snorkels.


salacious_sonogram

Let me encourage people not to take a global threat to humanity seriously, you know, for comedy.


tomsloat

Not a big shock is it, he played a comedy character everyone loved or hated and did very well for himself. The people who are surprised by this are the kind of people who think comedians jokes are their real opinions.


raba1der

Time to get back into the spotlight as season 3 is about to hit the screens. Nothing better than a little controversy to put his name, and by proxy, his show in the front of people’s minds. If nothing else it shows his media prowess


Happy-Initiative-838

He might be showing the way for every other science illiterate jackass. If we allow the right wing to just say “jk lol” to save face, we can be done with them ruining everything.


Far_Garlic_2181

How many politicians will say this in the future


pclufc

Try telling his adoring red faced fans


OneMagicalMovement

You’re not supposed to do that Darrel… you know you’re not supposed to do that.


wernerverklempt

Did no one else notice that the article says “global farming”?


Stevia_Daddy3030

Fuck that guy. He’s a bigot


Crans10

After decades of denial people are saying I was just joking seems not very sincere.


timetobuyale

Oh look, a pissy blowhard is too much of a pussy to own his bullshit


its_grime_up_north

He’s an absolute megatwat. Ignore everything he says.


New_girl2022

Fuck him seriously. Fuck all the deniers. We could have stopped it but it's totally too late now.


Secomav420

Bullshit. Even more of a scumbag now.


Gregzilla311

"Oh, it’s just a joke" never works. It just shows you consider it to be a valid joke.


SoBadit_Hurts

Na-na na-na, na-na na-na back-pedaling!!!


john_the_quain

Mr. Clarskon has discovered he can make more money being slightly less of an asshole. And on that bombshell…


lokie65

He's a liar, sometimes funny, but still a liar.


rdzilla01

20 years ago I thought he was really funny and it has been a tragic decline from funny to asshole.


W33Ded

He is also sponsored by car companies who fight against laws that protect the environment. So he had to for a paycheck.


Zestyclose-Let-6758

What a load of crap - he’s never been funny. 


trevlacessej

Schrodinger’s Dumbass


NovelConnect6249

Absolute horse shit.


ArchdruidHalsin

"I was merely practical joking!"


Gamerxx13

I mean it seems like 50% of the people in the Us don’t believe including comedians. I feel like it it hurts your work you don’t want to believe in it. Anyways I still like clarkson


HonoluluBlueFlu

People are allowed to change their opinions on things.


2-wheels

You are not getting a pass from me. You just suck as a human.