Zulu Eleven wrote: ↑11 Mar 2023, 9:20pm
Over sixty MP’s called for Clarkson to be sacked over his Markle comments. There has been no end of MP’s calling for him to be sacked over the years.
There is a big difference between MPs jumping onto a bandwagon and calling for someone to be sacked, versus government ministers acting in what is almost certainly an orchestrated campaign to silence someone who works for the BBC as a sports presenter.
I do not care what Clarkson wrote about Meghan Markle. As long as it does not breach the law, e.g. incitement to violence, he can write whatever he likes and the Sun can publish whatever it likes. If people want to buy the Sun and read that, that is their choice.
Zulu Eleven wrote: ↑11 Mar 2023, 9:20pm
There are also important differences between calling the PM a 'one eyed scottish idiot' versus describing government actions as 'an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s'. As for Clarkson's apology, my impression is that was largely just a cynical ploy. He did not change his behaviour, and there were repeated controversies until he finally left the BBC, e.g. use of the term 'slope' in a very likely deliberately ambiguously racist context when recording in Vietnam and on another occasion physically assaulting a member of the production team. As for 'the difference is that Lineker has refused to apologise', I would question exactly what he should apologise for.
Ah, “freedom of speech as long as I support what you’re saying”, quelle surprise..
I largely don't care about what Clarkson or other controversial celebrities and media figures say. If people want to get worked up about Clarkson's latest deliberately controversial statement designed to get more publicity for him, more fool them. Likewise, if people want to buy the Sun or the Daily Mail, more fool them.
Braverman and co. care about what Lineker says because they are afraid that his statements will gain traction with people whose votes they want, and so they want him silenced. When government ministers are devoting this sort of effort to get the BBC to silence a sports presenter, you should be concerned.