Top Gear sparks Mexico complaints

Status
Not open for further replies.
As a mexican I do feel that they did go too far on this one, I can't say that we mexicans dont muck everyone based on stereotypes and general beliefs, but this segment was probably one of top gear's "this is why some people hate us" top 10 moments.

I understand that people watch top gear because of the jokes, and that no one should really take any of what is said in this show seriously, but as ja404 pointed out... When you have that many viewers and some of them (mostly finalgear members :p) are fanatics/doctrine followers of Top Gear you get 300+ million biggots based on a comment ment to get some laughs.

Of course this here is a dead end situation; First, TG has never apologized. Nor they ever will.
Then, as a country Mexico needed to stand for its interests, that at the present moment are rather damaged by the international perception of Mexico as a "violent hell".
Finally, we, the mexican fans do "try" to understand that this was a joke, but its a bit hard when a country, its diplomatic representatives and the one sportcar company we have are all targets of the most watched tv show "in the world" <Insert Clarkson voice>
 
I found it odd that Brits would complain about other nations' cuisine...

Anyway, they really did take it too far. I think they actually reached their limit on political incorrectness with that segment so who knows if they will dare to cross that limit. It just came off as very mean and condescending instead of humourous, especially Hammond's part. The choice of words and delivery were poor, IMO.

They won't apologize and nor should they, but they'll probably choose their words more carefully. If they said this about an African nation it would be all over for the trio!
 
Last edited:
Apparently the ambassador has never seen Top Gear or it's public apologies.

If he had, he may have condemned what was said because that is expected but would have never demanded a public apology because of what they will probably get.
 
Skylock, this is not just the leader of the X and X motor club complaining. This was a full blown diplomatic complain from the representative of another nation in their land writing to the BBC demanding not asking, demanding that they made a public apology. It is a little more serious than a bunch of rustled feathers from the Royal Academy of Bad taste (enter any other person/group ever offended by the trio).

Even James May comment was initially comic... call it the "Tortilla".. I can laugh at that... Make fun of the Ambassador... Fine, who doesn't like to take a jab at a public figure...

But they made a very negative comment about a country's engineering and mechanical talents and industry. Comments that are so powerful since this IS the most popular auto show ever, that will in effect damage the pockets of some Mexican industrials who all that they wanted was to sell a nice little sports car.

And beyond that... Call one of the most complex and delicious cuisines in the entire planet... "Nothing more than refried sick with cheese?"

You know there are seasonal Mexican dishes that take days to prepare? Chiles Poblanos, Tamales Oaxaque?os, etc.

I am a BIG fan of the show... I decided to buy my first Golf GTI VS an RX7 BECAUSE of the presentation that Clarkson did on it. That is how influential these people and show are. I have seen every show, special and otherwise since they had 3 guys and a fat chick in that shed as an audience. And James May was presenting some historic boring crap elsewhere.

I do expect to see a heartfelt public and real apology. In fact, I would expect they brought over to the track the little Mexican car and give it a go. If it sucks... then so be it. But shoot if without allowing it even to take off?

Yes, they absolutely crossed the line from simple joking around and poignant and directed and completely ignorant bad taste.
 
T_Roger said:
Skylock, this is not just the leader of the X and X motor club complaining. This was a full blown diplomatic complain from the representative of another nation in their land writing to the BBC demanding not asking, demanding that they made a public apology. It is a little more serious than a bunch of rustled feathers from the Royal Academy of Bad taste (enter any other person/group ever offended by the trio).

Even James May comment was initially comic... call it the "Tortilla".. I can laugh at that... Make fun of the Ambassador... Fine, who doesn't like to take a jab at a public figure...

But they made a very negative comment about a country's engineering and mechanical talents and industry. Comments that are so powerful since this IS the most popular auto show ever, that will in effect damage the pockets of some Mexican industrials who all that they wanted was to sell a nice little sports car.

And beyond that... Call one of the most complex and delicious cuisines in the entire planet... "Nothing more than refried sick with cheese?"

You know there are seasonal Mexican dishes that take days to prepare? Chiles Poblanos, Tamales Oaxaque?os, etc.

I am a BIG fan of the show... I decided to buy my first Golf GTI VS an RX7 BECAUSE of the presentation that Clarkson did on it. That is how influential these people and show are. I have seen every show, special and otherwise since they had 3 guys and a fat chick in that shed as an audience. And James May was presenting some historic boring crap elsewhere.

I do expect to see a heartfelt public and real apology. In fact, I would expect they brought over to the track the little Mexican car and give it a go. If it sucks... then so be it. But shoot if without allowing it even to take off?

Yes, they absolutely crossed the line from simple joking around and poignant and directed and completely ignorant bad taste.
Click to expand...

You have got to be kidding me.
 
If youve seen every episode, you should realize...that's just what they do. They did nothing worse than anything they say about the US, or Australia, or Germany, or etc etc. Have you heard some of the things they say about the US? They rip apart our entire auto industry, the people and the food. They make nazi/WWII jokes every time they talk about Germany. It's just what they do.
 
katwalk said:
Raise your hand if you haven't had top gear insult your racenationality/gender/religion etc. before.

Top gear is an equal opportunity source of insults, they insult everyone they can think of, including themselves.
Click to expand...

FTFY.

Mexican, American, French, German, Dutch, British, etc. = nationality

Caucasian, Hispanic, Black, Mixed = race or ethnicity

But point made. :)

T_Roger said:
In fact, I would expect they brought over to the track the little Mexican car and give it a go. If it sucks... then so be it. But shoot if without allowing it even to take off?
Click to expand...

Waaaay back in S10 they mentioned the SSC Ultimate Aero -- a US-built car -- in the news segment. They made fun of it. They never tested it. Last season, before James's attempt to max out the Veyron SuperSport, they mentioned another US-built car, tuned by Hennessey I believe; that car has never been reviewed by TG, either.

Short version: There have been plenty of cars mentioned on TG that they've never tested on the show. It's nothing new.

And beyond that... Call one of the most complex and delicious cuisines in the entire planet... "Nothing more than refried sick with cheese?"
Click to expand...

Watch the Vietnam Special and Richard's responses to requests from Jeremy to try various Vietnamese dishes. He refused every single time. Why? Because he is a seriously fussy eater. Also, in 11x04, during the Race Across Japan, Jeremy joked that the only things Richard would eat were burgers from a vendor selling them off the A38.

As I said in the episode's thread, on one hand, I wonder "How far is too far?". On the other hand, I have to consider, as katwalk pointed out, every time the trio have made fun of Americans, the French, the Australians, the Dutch, the Germans, and even their fellow Brits, not the mention the fact that what we see on TG are exaggerations of the boys' personas. Some time ago Jeremy wrote that he doesn't believe what he writes in his own columns, and -- IMO -- it extends over to what he says on television as well.
 
T_Roger said:
But they made a very negative comment about a country's engineering and mechanical talents and industry. Comments that are so powerful since this IS the most popular auto show ever, that will in effect damage the pockets of some Mexican industrials who all that they wanted was to sell a nice little sports car.
Click to expand...

Not the first time they've made negative comments about a car on sight. Clarkson called the SSC Ultimate Aero bad AFTER it broke the production car speed record. Also said the Camaro would be awful before it even entered production, and it came from the (at the time) largest auto manufacturer in the world. Judging the...whatever it's called...is kind of par for the course. I'm sure, however, Top Gear will be super bummed they damaged the hearts of thoes industrials (industrialists?)
 
They accused my own country as well several times! Do I care? Hell no, it's Top Gear, if you or anyone else takes this even slightly serious you need to bang your head against the wall:mrgreen:
 
Anyone remember this.


I think Top Gear is doing the same thing :).
 
Dieter Cabral said:
As a mexican I do feel that they did go too far on this one, I can't say that we mexicans dont muck everyone based on stereotypes and general beliefs, but this segment was probably one of top gear's "this is why some people hate us" top 10 moments.

I understand that people watch top gear because of the jokes, and that no one should really take any of what is said in this show seriously, but as ja404 pointed out... When you have that many viewers and some of them (mostly finalgear members :p) are fanatics/doctrine followers of Top Gear you get 300+ million biggots based on a comment ment to get some laughs.

Of course this here is a dead end situation; First, TG has never apologized. Nor they ever will.
Then, as a country Mexico needed to stand for its interests, that at the present moment are rather damaged by the international perception of Mexico as a "violent hell".
Finally, we, the mexican fans do "try" to understand that this was a joke, but its a bit hard when a country, its diplomatic representatives and the one sportcar company we have are all targets of the most watched tv show "in the world" <Insert Clarkson voice>
Click to expand...
Hear hear - very sensible repost. +1
 
T_Roger said:
But they made a very negative comment about a country's engineering and mechanical talents and industry. Comments that are so powerful since this IS the most popular auto show ever, that will in effect damage the pockets of some Mexican industrials who all that they wanted was to sell a nice little sports car.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, this is Jeremy Clarkson, a man who's consistent hatred of Rover played a not insignificant part in their downfall. That was a major car company.

And while i'm sure that there is quite a bit of industry in Mexico, it isn't exactly renowned internationally for it's engineering excellence.
 
shellygrrl said:
Waaaay back in S10 they mentioned the SSC Ultimate Aero -- a US-built car -- in the news segment. They made fun of it. They never tested it. Last season, before James's attempt to max out the Veyron SuperSport, they mentioned another US-built car, tuned by Hennessey I believe; that car has never been reviewed by TG, either.

Short version: There have been plenty of cars mentioned on TG that they've never tested on the show. It's nothing new.
Click to expand...

Exactly. How many times in the News have they shown pictures of new production cars that they've proceeded to slam on looks alone that never have appeared again on the show? And how many of us wanted to see a real road test of the Dacia Sandero, not what James did in 14x01, after entire seasons of jokes about it? Never happened, and won't happen now. It might happen with the Duster, since James reviewed it for the magazine and liked it.

After this brouhaha, we might actually see the Mastretta on the track in Season 17. They love bringing in exotica from new companies to whomp around the track. That's been a TG tradition since, oh, 01x01 and a then-unknown Pagani Zonda. Koenigsegg, Gumpert, Ascari, etc., have joined them since. It might happen. But it's not going to happen next week because the segments are already filmed for this season.

As for the issue, diplomats have flown off the handle for less offense; it's part of their job. Would any Swedes who are into pop music like to get into the situation involving Melodifestivalen 2009 and the Russians?
 
Worst part of it is, he made himself look a right nob. Whether or not anyone was offended, it just wasn't funny and was an incredibly lame humour.

Clarkson knows how to do the self-parodying Little Englander and not come off as a prick, so Hammond, leave it to him next time.
 
Anyone offended by this is taking it way too seriously, probably because they, or someone they know, is Mexican or of Mexican origin.

Do you think you were the only country that would make it through unscathed? As for the ambassador and the car (company) itself, these are both public entities, so critique can be made without any issue.

Nothing they did was over the line and out of place. It was no different than the dozens of comments they have made about Italians stealing things, French people being cowards and stupid, German people and the war, American people as fat and lazy, Russians/Chinese as communist, Koreans as "industrious little fellows", South American as full of drug addicts, Africa as full of AIDs, Australians as alcoholics, Japanese as emotionless video game/maths nerds, etc.

At some point, TG will have insulted every nationality and country. Just because you're one of the last ones to get hit doesn't mean you should whine about it. There is some truth in every statement TG makes and it's all for the sake of entertainment and satire. If you can't see that and appreciate it, you're dense. America is one of the most common countries to insult and I'm American and I laugh every time.
 
I reckon Mastretta should cut the top off it and make a convertible version for the domestic market!

(Sorry, couldn't resist it!)
And before anyone starts screaming, see my location and yes, I am Mexican, so for fuck sake, stop all this crying! If you know the show, then you know that they take the piss out of everyone and everything! It's only when you lose your sense of humor (and especially the ability to laugh at onesself) that you get extremists killing people due to a lack of tolerance!
 
T_Roger said:
But they made a very negative comment about a country's engineering and mechanical talents and industry. Comments that are so powerful since this IS the most popular auto show ever, that will in effect damage the pockets of some Mexican industrials who all that they wanted was to sell a nice little sports car.
Click to expand...

Following your logic, here are just a few of the companies that have had their reputation damaged by Top Gear and should therefore complain - Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Volvo, Saab, Rover etc...so it's not just Mexican car companies that suffer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top