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Clarkson under fire for use of ‘pikey’ on Top Gear

OFCOM confirmed yesterday that it is investigating the use of the word “pikey” in Top Gear.

The communications watchdog said the offending scene involves the TV show’s ex-host Jeremy Clarkson holding a placard with the words “Pikey’s Peak” on it.

It comes after a similar complaint was lodged with the BBC but eventually not upheld.

The BBC Trust ruling in March cleared Clarkson of racism and its editorial standards committee concluded the word had been used to mean “cheap,” rather than as a term of racist or ethnic abuse.

Speaking at the time, a spokesman for the traveller movement said they were “horrified” by the “BBC’s green-lighting of the use of the word.”

Since then, Clarkson has left the show when the BBC allowed his contract to run down after an internal investigation found he attacked show producer Oisin Tymon in an unprovoked assault.

His co-stars, Richard Hammond and James May, are believed to have also left the show along with producer Andy Wilman, and are expected to launch a rival show with another broadcaster.

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