back to article America spared Top Gear Mexican quips

The BBC has announced that the episode of Top Gear featuring witty analysis of Mexicans will be diplomatically edited before its stateside broadcast next week. Auntie apologised last week for the controversial quippery of presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, which included a description of a Mexican …

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  1. LPF

    The mexicans

    Need to grow a pair!! they were taking the whizz out of the aussies and they were giving it back and no one went crying to their mummies over hurt feelings!

    1. Mexflyboy
      FAIL

      You need some sense/tea bagging, mo fo!

      Don't be a cupid stunt, LPF... don't paint all us Mexicans with the same brush as the Mexican Diplomat, believe it or not, not all Mexicans agree with him!

      Me (Mexican dude!), I've always thought that Jeremy Clarkson was a funny c*nt, and taking anything he says seriously is just folly... he's the human equivalent of the Daily Mail: full of shit and funny as hell.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        give as good

        ... and im sure Mexcicans give as good as they get regarding piss takes.

  2. Mad Mike
    FAIL

    Missed something

    I think Jeremy and co missed something in the description. How about adding 'humourless' at the end. Seems a done deal bearing in mind their reaction to the show. Amazing how many countries just don't get humour. The Japanese getting upset over QI is quite incredible as well given their well documented 'entertainment' shows normally involving torturing people in all sorts of inventive ways.

  3. Steve Evans

    UK iplayer version...

    They've already withdrawn and reissued the UK iplayer version earlier this week. They removed the comments JC made about the ambassador not complaining because he'll be asleep in his chair.

  4. YumDogfood

    "routinely edited for international transmission"

    So no Clarkson on US TV then? :-P

  5. Jacques Kruger
    Pint

    And the French?

    I've seen so many Top Gear episodes where the French are mocked, often quite a bit more "mischievous" than the comments on Mexico.

    Why beer? I'm off to the pub to find a Mexican with a sense of humor.

  6. Shaun 1

    A bit wet?

    "This didn't go down too well south of the border"

    Isn't south of the border the English Channel?

    1. Annihilator
      Paris Hilton

      Sinatra

      "South of the border" is a fairly well used description of Mexico. If they'd said, "south of the border, down Mexico way", would you have got it then?

      1. NogginTheNog
        Coat

        Geography

        Surely "South of the border down Mexico way" is Guatamala??

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        FFS

        Do none of you people understand humour when you see it?

  7. RobE
    Thumb Up

    While they are watching...

    Everyone else has seen it and is laughing behind their backs.... Makes me think the same must be going on with other nationalities TV shows when we receive them.

  8. No, I will not fix your computer
    WTF?

    Stereotypes.....

    Are funny, if you take them seriously they cease to be funny, come fly with me (for example) insults just about everybody, if you treat people like a stereotype then you are not funny, Bruno/Borat are funny because of the stereotype (and pokes fun at those who believe the stereotype).

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Stereotypes.....

      Neither Bruno nor Borat are funny, and they're not as clever as they think they are either.

      1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

        Re: Re: Stereotypes.....

        Yes, I know it's the same bloke. Yes, I have seen the films. As you were.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Grenade

          Sacha Baron Cohen's finest performance

          IMO his finest performance wasn't Borat or Bruno but in Sweeney Todd, where he got bludgeoned by Todd (Depp) and later turned into a pie. Best thing that could have happened to him.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Grenade

            Re: Sacha Baron Cohen's finest performance

            I agree, his portrayal of a pie was first class.

            It's just a pity he's so utterly talentless at everything else.

            Did I say that he's also tremendously annoying?

            No?

            Well he is.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        oh...

        thank you so much, nanny, for setting us straight. It's lucky for us that you are here otherwise we'd have to think for ourselves.

      3. Col

        Re: Stereotypes.....

        Nice to find someone else who doesn't think the sun shines out of Baron Cohen's arse.

      4. No, I will not fix your computer
        Stop

        Re: Re: Stereotypes

        >>Neither Bruno nor Borat are funny, and they're not as clever as they think they are either.

        Sarah, it's unusual for you to express an opinion as "the opinion", as I see it there are four ways of taking SBC;

        1. You find him funny, but don't get it

        2. You find him funny, and get it

        3. You don't find him funny, and don't get it

        4. You don't find him funny, but you get it

        The only real problem is people #1, I'm hoping that you're a type #4 and your slightly narky response is because of type #1 people, but like biggots who were fans of Alf Garnett their ignorance is not his fault.

        I guess all the Emmy nominations, best actor/comedy awards and golden globes in the world don't carry much weight with you if you just don't find him funny? let's hope the judges are type #2 people!

  9. s. pam Silver badge
    Alert

    Time for a Nappie for the Americans

    Looks like Mama Beeb is going to make it all better for the Americans. Not that a single viewer hasn't already fucking read the story in the press. Perish the thought that the Americans routinely and very publiclly think even less of their neighbours and say so on the radio/TV there already.

    1. Bilby
      Headmaster

      @ s. pam, 11 Feb 14:28 GMT

      "Time for a Nappie for the Americans"

      I think you will find that is a Diaper...

  10. Brian 6
    Happy

    DAVE

    At least the editing wont be as bad as when Top Gear is shown on Dave.

    1. lee harvey osmond

      yes, DAVE.

      Well that's the intention, isn't it?

      If a show is 60mins long and has to fit in a 60min slot, including any advertising, it will be:

      About 60mins long on the BBC

      About 46mins long on Dave

      About 42mins long on US TV

      It does help if you create the show with lots of nice "edit points", where you can snip bits out apparently seamlessly.

      Which could be where "let's tease the Mexicans" came in ... a minute or so's content ready to be discarded in the sanitized-for-export edit.

  11. Mexflyboy
    Paris Hilton

    Clueless wankers

    Some of you Brits ARE clueless wankers... do NOT assume that the Mexican diplomat speaks for all Mexicans nor for ME (a Mexican living in the UK)... fuck you're as bad as Americans, you Brits assuming we are the MexiBorg or something....

    HOWEVER: I do not blame the BBC for editing the episode before sending it to America: the British sense of humor (a la Clarkson) can sometimes be seen as c*nt-like by my fellow Americans (i.e., Ricky Gervais' fail recently on some awards show), and pissing off the Mexican viewing population in the USA (who have not been exposed to Jeremy C*ntson on a weekly basis like I have) would lead to the BBC getting losing business.

    (However, I do still think the Americans are overly-earnest wankers, and the British are miserable tw*ts :D

    1. Yann BZH
      Troll

      Mexican potty mouth

      You honestly believe that swearing every two words will help emphasizing your point?

      Troll, cause you're worth it.

      Ps: I'm not British either.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Down

        Odd that

        Us asuming that an ambassador speaks for a country. Prat.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Mexican? Potty mouth?

        LOL, you clearly haven't heard Mexican Spanish spoken if you believe FlyBoy's a potty mouth!

    2. Richard 120
      FAIL

      Ambassador

      Ambassadors do speak for nations, so he was speaking for you.

      That's the way it works.

    3. Steve Evans

      Re: Clueless wankers

      Ricky Gervais' award presentation speech was actually the first time that guy has made me laugh! Up until then I had found his shows about as entertaining at a teetotal funeral. Then again, maybe it was the room full of squirming Americans that made it funny.

      Now be a good lad and make me some fart-heaters.

  12. Prodigal Rebel
    Pint

    Mistress Bee

    I wholeheartedly agree with you!! I could not be bothered to watch borat and or bruno... I just don't think Sascha Baron Cohen is funny.... He is a big prat! Has the world suddenly stopped turning? Usually i disagree with you...

    I love the banter between the lads but when JC starts picking on his European neighbours I just tune out... Someone compared him with a schoolyard bully but i wouldn't go quite that far more a neatherthaler (named after the valley of the Neader and yes thats a river in .... +shock- Germay).

    Sips of his superior Belgian beer! (And yes my Blighty bound friends most Belgian beers ARE superior to the colored and flavored dishes water called Lager that you brits drink!

    Abu Eireann!!!

    1. D@v3
      Pint

      as an Englishman

      who once spent some time in Belgium.

      I can whole hartedly agree with you.

      Have one on me

    2. IsJustabloke
      Thumb Up

      I refuse to enoble a simple forum post!

      I notice that cunningly you compared Belgium beer to Lager ( there's a reason so much of it is golden you know) and not our superior English beers... good , well done.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Pint

        Sir,

        Unfortunately superior English beers are in the minority in the UK and superior Belgian beers are in the majority in Belgium. Keep drinking the good stuff!

        P.S. Jeremy Clarkson's non car related drivel not worth commenting on. The cars, including the Mexican ones, are the only interesting things on the show.

    3. Rune Moberg

      Borat, a brother, a husband and a father

      I'm not a big fan of Sascha Baron Cohen either. I'm aware he had a TV-show once, but only caught a few glimpses of his Ali-G character and I was less than impressed. Bruno is amusing enough, but somehow never achieves take-off.

      Borat OTOH is brilliant. The scene where he nude-wrestles his manager (or whatever function the fat guy is supposed to have) after chasing him through the hotel lobby was priceless. His ramblings about the tears from a gypsy curing AIDS can be quite helpful if you have such a disease. So, it is both fun and informative. How can you top that? (incidentally, Borat currently rates a solid 7.5 at imdb.com, so it seems a bit strange to dismiss it outright without even having watched it)

      Oh... Also make sure to check out Madagascar 2. King Julien is the type of king we should have more of.

  13. D@v3
    Joke

    thing that makes me laugh about these situations

    is that whenever they happen (someone on TV/Radio 'insulting' someone else in jest) the resulting apology brings more attention to the incident than there was (or may have been) in the first place.

  14. Tim Brown 1
    Flame

    Outstayed its welcome

    Top Gear should have been taken off the air about three years ago. It has long ceased to be any sort of proper motoring show and is now a poorly scripted attempt at a comedy in the fake documentary style.

    I long ago ceased to be a regular viewer, but when I happen to catch the odd five minutes or so now, it makes me cringe.

    1. James Hughes 1

      I dunno

      They have had some cracking specials (laugh out loud stuff), and the last three years have been worth it just to watch the 500hp Ariel Atom blow away the lap record.

      1. Paul 4

        Coz

        5th gear is such a good program sticking to autocar style "how big is the boot" trash.

    2. Marc 1

      Re: Outstayed its welcome

      I totally agree. The American version we get here in the states is junk. I watched about 1.5 episodes before giving up on it. They lost me when they started destroying cars with humor appearing to cater to a demographic I'm not familiar with.

      I'm a big car nut.. I love some, hate others.. but none, not even the crappiest deserve be destroyed for the lame attempts of humor and ratings they were going for.

  15. Parsifal
    WTF?

    Why bother

    As a Brit living in the US, American TV shows think nothing of using racial stereotypes when portraying the English, from bad teeth,bad food, and always thinking Brits all speak with a Cockney accent to a very badly portrayed Queen Elizabeth on a Hebrew National hot dog advert which i found to be very insulting (Yes I'm a Royalist)

    There is far too much PC in the world to day, people just seem to need something to whine about, the Mexican Ambassador should have just shut up and taken heed of the phrase 'Sticks and Stones' , and the Beeb should not have done anything to Top Gear editing wise.

    1. Steve Evans

      Re: Why bother

      So does that mean we still can't have Dick Van Dyke locked up in the tower for crimes against the cockney accent?

      Oh, and if you're such a royalist, could you do us a favour... Come back and pay some UK taxes to support her instead of being a royalist for free!

  16. Alicia

    IMHO

    Americans tell me there is a lot of racism against Mexicans in the States. Therefore, if they leave comments in after the Mexican representative complains, the Beeb is seen as supporting the racists.

    Also, it isn't feeble to claim that Top Gear is routinely edited for broadcasting abroad; it's accurate (because despite all Beeb's faults, there aren't any adverts during the programmes as shown on BBC1 or 2). And it's usually a bit of the news that gets cut out. Not always because someone complains, but because it's the least "action packed" part of the show.

    -A-

  17. PDS
    Pint

    Nice to see

    El Reg delights in non censorship and happily requotes Hammonds initial analysis of the Mexiacans word for word in every article about this crazy overreaction. Well done, keep it up, Have a beer.

  18. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Go

    Not really news...

    They typically edit the "News" segments from the show in their entirety for the Beeb Yankee edition anyway so no great news here.

  19. JMB

    Top Gear

    The Mexican Ambassador would have been far better if he had invited them over to his country to film a review of the car there, that way he could have got some publicity. They made some funny comments about Albania last week but Clarkson commented what a beautiful country it was.

  20. cum grano salis
    FAIL

    waste of time

    Most Americans don't know what half of those quoted words mean, and most Mexicans in the US don't speak English. Kind of a wasted effort.

    1. Daniel B.
      Thumb Down

      Wrong country

      In fact, most Mexicans in the US do know English, or at least a bit. Having the US so close means that English creeps a lot into daily language. Hell, a lot of Mexicans *in Mexico* know English as well.

      Those who come from South American countries are the ones that will usually be English-impaired, but even they will actually learn English at some point.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    (untitled)

    " (i.e., Ricky Gervais' fail recently on some awards show)"

    And yet they lap up the like of Joan Rivers. It's a strange old world.

  22. Gene Cash Silver badge
    Grenade

    Now I can sue the BBC too? (or at least BBC America)

    So when they shout "shown in their complete uncut glory" then I can nail 'em for false advertising?

    What do you expect where the country is completely run by drug lords and all the cops are on the take? I guess all the ones with a sense of humor were shot.

  23. Manu T

    what happened to freedom of speech?

    Title says it all. Now BBC... comment please.

  24. Ed Deckard
    Unhappy

    I do wish they'd show it unedited

    I keep telling people the brits are a bunch of loudmouthed louts with a taste for ethnic jokes but nobody believes me.

    (Comment is rude and mischievous but there is no mischief behind it, complaints will be PC gone mad, etc.)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Context dear

      Its all about context. Top Gear make fun of people in a friendly way, your being passive agressive, or trying to be funny and forgetting the lack of tone in written comunication.

  25. Herby

    We americans still do insults as well...

    Back a few years ago, we had the "Frito Bandito" (complete with drawn in handelbar mustache). Nobody really complained about that characterization.

    Look humor IS legitimate, get over it!

    Of course, if this were some tirade about a certain religion, those who spoke bad would be under a death threat, even for drawing a cartoon!

  26. Badwolf

    Abort / Retry / Fail

    http://www.b3ta.com/links/Stewart_Lee_on_Top_Gear

    far funnier than Clarkson and his cronies

  27. s. pam Silver badge
    Coffee/keyboard

    Mexicans Seek Asylum In Oz

    Pot.

    Kettle.

    Safety.

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/mexicans-seek-sanctuary-in-australia-20110211-1aqk6.html

    Hysterical in a weird transitive hallucinatory way

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Top Gear

    Made by pricks for twats and a waste of my licence fee.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    International editions

    The BBC Canada version has to fit into an hour including about 12 minutes of commercials. The uncut version that we obtain 'from other sources' is about an hour and 2 minutes end-to-end. So there's about 25% of the show that we never see, unless we take matters into our own hands.

    Also, BBC Canada is still spooling through Season 15 at this time. Canadians won't see Season 16 until maybe the autumn, unless they take matters into their own hands.

  30. DEAD4EVER

    mexicans really

    honestly people in this world need to grow up and understand this programs been doing this for donkeys years way before it was aired in other countrys

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Johnny Foreigner

    What the rest of the world needs to understand is that there's no harm in making jokes about foreign nationals after you've made enemies with just about every country on the planet.

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