I would say that its probably very presumptuous of a white middle class middle aged person such as myself to have any opinion on what an oppressed minority would consider offensive.

If people are offended, then maybe its offensive. Of course, it seems to me that the majority of those people stating it is offensive are being offended on other peoples behalf, whether those people were actually offended or not .

One certainty is that Jezza won't be relying on the talents of Max Clifford to handle the PR!

HF is set in the mid 19th century Missouri. The characters' speech is accurate (however offensive to modern ears) for that time period and geography.

Top Gear is broadcast across the world in 2014.

Therein lies the difference. The world, for better or worse, has moved on.

Well, for better!

One would hope so

Or perhaps they are trying to ride on the back of the whole Donald Sterling LA Clippers story.

Yes Clarkson makes a lot of comments that some may find offensive, and that are definitely not PC, but I think that is one of the reasons that he and Top Gear are so popular. People are fed up of all the political correctness going on.

Yes he is being paid with taxpayers money.. but the popularity of the show could be used to argue that the taxpayers agree with his employment.

Breathtaking deduction error.

I'm also surprised to learn that he is being paid with taxpayers' money. How so?

ok clarkson is a dickweed ....but a friend from Scotland (same age in his 50s,a country boy )recently visited me and while we were in the local bar we were joined by a friend who just happened to be a native american..well the first words out o my friends mouth was ive never met an Indian before etc the whole table just stopped and stared and my native friend just said oh you must be jimmies friend from Scotland wheres your skirt.
no harm done they became good friends but if you had just walked in part through ,you would have thought RACIST. very unPC.
jimmy

No you wouldn't, you'd just think "daft teuchter".

Difference is, Clarkson was not ignorant, he KNEW the term to be wrong and offensive, but still did it.

You chose whether to be offended or not. Unfortunately, some people seem to take a lot of joy in finding things to be offended by.

The license fee doesn't contribute to his salary?

Even if it does, what's that got to do with the taxpayer?

Just a symptom of the "offended society" so many people seem to inhabit these days.

Quite ridiculous that you could get offended over something that wasn't actually said and wasn't even broadcast. Then again, being from Northern Ireland, I've seen how superficial such "offence" actually is. It's just an excuse to moan, complain and pull a victim card.