May 26
Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That
Jeremy Clarkson has been rapped for calling a car ‘gay’.The Top Gear presenter said the Daihatsu Copen was “a bit gay” and “a bit ginger beer” – rhyming slang for ‘queer’, reports the Daily Mail.
Ofcom [the broadcast regulator in the UK, similar to the CRTC or FCC, and apparently just as useful] said use of the word “gay” was not necessarily offensive, citing the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the word as “foolish, stupid and occasionally inappropriate, disapproved of and lame”.
But Ofcom added: “In this edition of Top Gear, the presenter’s use of a Cockney rhyming phrase made clear he intended to give a particular meaning to use of the word gay . . . ie, not to restrict its meaning simply to foolish or stupid, but clearly linking the reference to homosexual people.
“This, in Ofcom’s opinion, meant that the use of the word became capable of giving offence. In the context, there was no justification for using the word in this way.”
Now, I’m not an expert on cars like Jeremy Clarkson, so I have to defer to his opinion, though some might find it harsh.
I will only say that I would expect to see great numbers of Daihatsu Copen in the parking lot of the local Judy Garland Film Festival.
