BBC television presenter Jeremy Clarkson said on Saturday that while he was sorry for having made fun of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s appearance, he would not apologise for calling him an ”idiot”.
Clarkson, known to viewers around the world as the face of the BBC’s top-rated Top Gear car show, had described Brown, who lost his sight in one eye in an accident suffered while playing rugby as a teenager, as a ”one-eyed Scottish idiot” during a press conference in Sydney.
Clarkson was sharply criticised for the remarks by British politicians and the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and though he issued an apology on Friday, he told the Sun tabloid that he hadn’t ”apologised for calling him an idiot”.
”I very specifically apologised for making fun of his personal appearance — very specifically,” he told the newspaper from his Sydney hotel.
”I have nothing against the Scottish and of course I regret making any remark that might have upset the disabled.
”But the idiot bit — there is no chance I’ll apologise for that.”
A spokesperson for Brown’s Downing Street office declined to comment on Clarkson’s remarks on Friday. — AFP
