Katie Hopkins Top Gear Meltdown

As all avid Top Gear watchers now know, following Jeremy Clarkson’s departure from the BBC for the supposedly trivial reason that he violently assaulted and racially abused one of the show’s producers, his former co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May also decided to leave the show. The Beeb then approached Chris Evans, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and he has been confirmed the new Top Gear host.

Viewers may want to look away now

The media coverage has since ramped up, with speculation growing as to who might co-host. There might be a female host! Auditions might discover a new presenter! Scores of column inches were being generated; the hated BBC was providing bucket loads of cheap copy and for once the Fourth Estate was happy. But one paper had a problem with Evans being made the successor to Jezza.

And that paper, to no surprise at all, was the Super Soaraway Currant Bun, for the simple reason that Clarkson has a column there, and without Top Gear, a little of the shine is knocked off Jezza’s image. For starters, he can’t be described as the face of Top Gear, especially now that title has gone to someone else. So one of the Sun’s roster of mediocrities had to put the boot in. Who would be The Chosen One?

Step forward pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins, who is doubly teed off at Evans getting the job, because she has a problem with red hair. “Can I just get a few things straight? Top Gear does not have a new presenter”, she snapped. “The BBC has a new car show, with a presenter. Who is ginger. By choice … I am saying the bloke bores the pants off me banging on about cars … Chris Evans bores me about cars”.

It gets worse: “Chris Evans has the BBC running through his blood, as does Gary Lineker … They lick the boots of the BBC bosses and share the same favourite people”. Who might those include, then? “I had the life sucked out of me by Lewis Hamilton (racing’s equivalent of Tiger Woods) and turned off”. Racial stereotyping, much? Then she loses it.

Carry on flogging that dead horse, eh?

“We can be sure before long there will be a token woman [problem for you, Katie?] and a one-armed Paralympian in a reasonably priced Motability car … Forget the audience who like cars … Expect to see famous people who like to see their faces on telly … Particularly if they are lesbian, Muslim or pretending to be black … Stand by for the Christmas special. Russell Brand and Owen Jones deliver turkeys to food banks. Oh how we laughed”.

As Sir Sean nearly said, I think we got the point. The Sun and its piss-poor retinue of pundits are really hurting at their loss of influence, aren’t they? The paper has even sunk to manufacturing the highly creative claim “CLARKSON: BBC ASKED ME BACK TO TOP GEAR … Offered job days before Evans”. It’s dead, Murdoch poodles. Morte. Your money-making link to Top Gear has been broken. And it’s not coming back.

The BBC doesn’t want Clarkson. It doesn’t want Katie Hopkins either. It’s not listening to the Sun. So good for the BBC, say I. The Corporation must be doing something right.