Ugh, fine. We’re sorry. Okay, so that’s not exactly how the BBC responded to Mexico’s Ambassador Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, but it certainly didn’t fall all over itself in making a formal apology, either.
In case you need a refresher, Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond quipped on a recent broadcast episode of the hit television series, in reference to the Mexican-built Mastretta MXT sports car, “Mexican cars are just going to be a lazy, feckless, flatulent, oaf with a mustache leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat.”
Not surprisingly, a number of the country’s inhabitants were not amused… including the aforementioned Mexican Ambassador, who sent a letter to the BBC as something of a formal complaint. The BBC responded with a letter in return, which included the following statement:
Our own comedians make jokes about the British being terrible cooks and terrible romantics, and we in turn make jokes about the Italians being disorganized and over dramatic; the French being arrogant and the Germans being over organized. We are sorry if we have offended some people, but jokes centered on national stereotyping are a part of ‘Top Gear’s’ humor.
In any case, an apology was demanded and an apology (of sorts) was provided. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we lazy, over-fed and easily amused Americans are moving on. Hat tip to Jesse!
[Source: Associated Press via Google | Image: Gareth Fuller/AP]