14 March 2016

Oops for the day

The BBC has an article (though not the video; that's from YouTube) about idiots:

Footage of a Top Gear stunt filmed near the Cenotaph in London, England over the weekend will not be shown, the BBC has said. It comes after host Matt LeBlanc and a professional driver performed "doughnuts" near the war memorial in Whitehall. Co-host Chris Evans (video) apologized for the stunt, and said he and the crew were "mortified".
In a statement, the BBC apologized, and said the Cenotaph was never intended to appear in the program. It also said it had consulted with the Metropolitan Police Film Unit and the Special Events Unit of the Westminster City Council over the "large-scale, complex shoot, prepared over a period of four months". This, the corporation said, "required numerous road closures, health and safety regulations to be in place, and also included full disclosure to local residents, including the Treasury and the Foreign Office".
It added: "The Cenotaph was at no point intended to feature in the program, and therefore will not appear in the final film. However, we are acutely aware of how some of the images in the press look today, via the angle and distance they were taken and for which, as Chris Evans has already said, we sincerely apologize. The driver of the car was briefed by production prior to filming as to where to drive and to not do any maneuvers close to the monument, an instruction to which he fully adhered. We would like to make it absolutely clear that the Top Gear team has the utmost respect for the Cenotaph, what it stands for, and those heroic individuals whose memory it serves so fittingly."
During an interview, Evans said: "That footage will definitely not go on the air, no question about it.
A spokesman for the Westminster City Council said in a statement: "What the Top Gear team did on the day was not what had been agreed during the planning process. At no time had the BBC producers made the Westminster City Council aware that the car was going to be doing anything but drive down Whitehall. There was no discussion about wheel spins and a doughnut, and permission would not have been given to do so."
The spokesman also said the council had spoken to the Top Gear producers "to express our disappointment". The council also said it welcome Evans' statement regarding his belief that the footage should not be shown.
"We are very sorry for any upset that has been caused and will be strengthening our procedures to make sure that film and television production companies will not deviate from pre-agreed plans in the future," the spokesman added.
Evans apologized on air during his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show. Referring to photos of the stunt printed in newspapers, Evans said he wanted to "apologize unreservedly for what these images seem to portray. They look entirely disrespectful, which of course was not, and would never be, the intention of the Top Gear team or Matt LeBlanc. The images on the front pages of the papers today, it doesn't matter what actually happened, what is important is what these images look like," he said. "It does not look good at all. There have been some completely incendiary comments written alongside these pictures, and I completely understand all this furore, but the Top Gear team would never, ever, do that.
Doughnuts, which have previously been performed many times on Top Gear, usually involve rotating the rear of a car around the front, a technique caused by making the rear wheels of a car spin more quickly than the front set. They often leave circular skid marks on the road and sometimes cause smoke to emit from tyres due to friction. Evans's comments came the morning after a former British military commander criticised the stunt during an interview to BBC Radio 5 live.
Colonel Richard Kemp told Stephen Nolan the war memorial should be shown "respect". He likened the Cenotaph to a "cemetery" and said he did not want to see any clips featuring the memorial in the final edit. He added it "does not need to have people screaming around in cars and generating smoke from their tyres all over it".
Sir Roger Moore has also criticized the Top Gear team for filming near the Cenotaph.
The former James Bond actor tweeted: "I was brought up to respect those who laid down their lives for this country. Shame on Top Gear and the BBC."
Perry McCarthy, the non-speaking racing driver known as The Stig in the first two series of Top Gear fronted by Jeremy Clarkson, said Chris Evans' view that the footage shouldn't be shown was "disappointing". He told BBC Radio 5: "It's a question of perspective. It's a stunt. It brings the center of London, a beautiful part of London, and the Cenotaph, to a worldwide audience. It was a respectful distance away from it. The one shared opinion we all have is what the Cenotaph is there for, who we are remembering. There is no problem there of course. But come on, lighten up everybody."
LeBlanc and rally driver Ken Block also appeared to gatecrash a wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral on Saturday, although it later transpired that this was staged by actors for the show.
Rico says it's what happens when you let idiots drive on the wrong side of the road...

No comments:

 

Casino Deposit Bonus