Jeremy Clarkson has described the past week as “turbulent” and claimed he was joking when he appeared to criticise BBC bosses during an expletive-laden rant at a charity event.
The Top Gear presenter, who is currently suspended, said he woke up on Friday to the news that his on-stage speech at the charity gala at the Roundhouse in London had been videoed, and was told off by his lawyer.
Writing in The Sunday Times, the television presenter said it had all been in good humour. He wrote: “But it was all meant in jest and anyway it worked.
“By being brief, controversial and a bit sweary I woke the room up and the auction prize I was offering – one last lap of the Top Gear test track – raised £100,000.”
Clarkson, who was suspended after allegedly punching producer Oisin Tymon during a row which took place after filming, had appeared to suggest he may be sacked from the popular show and criticised the corporation’s executives.
He told those gathered at the charity event: “To be in the audience of Top Gear there was an 18-year waiting list. You know the BBC has fked themselves, and so who gives a fk? “It was a great show and they f**ked it up.”
A petition to have Clarkson re-instated on Top Gear has gathered almost one million signatures and was delivered by tank to BBC headquarters in London on Friday.
Clarkson tweeted his thanks to supporters but declared in his column in The Sun yesterday that “protest never works”.
His future at the BBC is likely to be decided this week when the corporation’s internal investigation into his behaviour is handed over to the director-general.