Jeremy Clarkson Banned From India And Two Other Countries
In a recent episode of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’, Jeremy Clarkson lists the countries he isn’t allowed to enter. Unsurprisingly, he has made it to the news in all three countries where his jokes weren’t reacted to with laughter and joy.
Jeremy was reminded of India and the other countries when a question that came up for contestant on the show, was related to the Hindu God Ganesh, a deity who is widely worshipped by the Indians.
“The Hindu god Ganesh is traditionally depicted as having the head of which animal?” Asked Clarkson.
The contestant appeared to be a bit confused with the options (A. Elephant, B.Tiger, C. Rhinocerous and D. Cobra). Funnily, he then decided to take Jeremy’s help.
Funnily, he tells the contestant “you’re using me up before you use the audience!”
Jeremy goes on to prove that the answer is not on his screen and neither does he have any earpiece. He also isn’t aware of the questions in advance.
Helping the contestant with the answer which was ‘elephant,’ Jeremy goes on to talk about the countries he’s banned from.
“But weirdly I’m actually banned from india..um (looks at the audience lauging)..I..I really am, I tried to go there last year and was refused a visa.”
“So that’s Turkey, Argentina…not that anybody would want to go back there (hinting at the incident from Top Gear Patagonia Special from 2014) and India.”
Luckily, the contestant and Jeremy get the answer right.
That brings us to the possible reasons why Jeremy isn’t allowed to enter these countries. Speaking of India, Top Gear India Special happened way back in 2011. Jeremy, James and Richard went on a ‘trade mission’ to India which was hilarious but, it didn’t go well for a few of them.
Clarkson’s humour wasn’t taken the right way and caused some uproar from people in the Indian Government. I’m not sure if that particular reason is the cause of his visa denial, especially since there is no official statement of his ‘ban’.
His visa could’ve got denied due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well so, we’ll never know for real unless there’s some official word out about it. However, I do think Jeremy was being rather lenient with India, considering some things he has said about other countries.
Coming to Turkey, well there was no controversy as such which came to light, that should deny Jeremy Clarkson a visit. However, after doing some research, I did get to know of a possibility for Jeremy’s ban and it comes from The Top Gear Middle East Special from Series 16.
While the trio didn’t spend much time in Turkey, some of the things they mentioned might have pissed the establishment off, despite it being true. Stuff like oncoming traffic from the wrong side on the dual carriageway, British Government Foreign Office’s advisory for travel in Turkey, etc.
Turkey’s most-watched news channel, NTV, said “exaggerated remarks” were made in the programme that “disparaged Turkey. The presenters wore bulletproof vests and helmets and said that the southeast of Turkey should be considered a war zone.”
The Doğan News Agency said the programme “showered Turkey with insults”, while Sabah said that “as they crossed into Turkey, the three presenters exhibited panicky behaviour (as a vehicle for) their propaganda of fear”.
We bet the original three wise men didn’t have to face such diplomatic ‘upheaval’.
Coming to Argentian, well there is nothing much to be said about it since we all know what happened in Top Gear’s Patagonia Special. To cut things short, the locals took the number on Jeremy’s Porsche 928 GT’s number plate a little too seriously when the trio was driving across Argentina to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the small block V8 engine.
They thought it was an allusion to the 1982 Falklands war- a conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina. But in reality, it was purely coincidental. News spread like wildfire and the locals took to the streets in Argentina, waiting to attack Clarkson for his jibe. The cars were attacked with stones, eggs, and even pickaxes as the convoy passed through swiftly in order to get to the border.
The trio made it back to safety but, without the cars. Quite sad eh?
There you go then- three countries, three reasons and one funny presenter!
