The storm that is the controversy surrounding the BBC, Top Gear, and Jeremy Clarkson is only going to get worse before there is even a possibility of things getting better. Clarkson and Oisin Tymon, the individual who was at the wrong end of a thrown punch, have given their accounts of what happened on March 10th to the BBC’s investigator, and BBC Director General Tony Hall will have the final say on what will happen once everything is sorted out. A ruling is expected later this ween, but compared to the actual ‘fracas’, the side details are even more interesting.

1. May and Hammond refused to film new episodes without Clarkson.

At some point after Jeremy was suspended, a BBC executive told the Mirror that the BBC approached James May and Richard Hammond about shooting some short clips without Jeremy, and filling in the rest of the time in with previously recorded segments. Hammond and May, however, took a hard-line stance against that idea, with the source saying, “There is a feeling that it is all of them or none of them.” While there is often jabs and mocking of each other, the trio seem to have a genuine friendship and it’s really refreshing to see them stand up for Clarkson and for what they feel is right with the show. Both Hammond and May have been using Twitter to make light of the time off, with May keying up “#Unemployed” for his posts.

Whether they leave with Clarkson, should he be fired, is yet to be seen, but what would happen if they do is a wild guess that anybody can take. Even more curious is what would become of the live “Top Gear Show” that the trio have undertaken. A show in Norway is scheduled for March 27-28, and the rumor mill is that Clarkson is looking into any and every possible method of being at the show, regardless of the outcome.

2. The BBC is now on damage control mode after comparing Clarkson to Jimmy Savile

An unnamed BBC “senior executive” told the Daily Mail that he likened Tymon’s position under Clarkson to a young victim’s position in regards to entertainer – and known pedophile – Jimmy Savile. Between the early 1960s until his death in in 2011, Savile was widely accused of being sexual predator and pedophile, with up to 450 potential victims coming forward during an investigation after his death. He also went on to say that the well-known personality conflict between Clarkson and the BBC’s director of television, Danny Cohen, were false and that Clarkson is self-destructing and needs to seek help.

Jimmy Savile

Quoting the article (which you can read HERE), the executive says, ‘The pressure this guy [Tymon] is under is so Savilesque in a way,’ he said, adding that Clarkson’s support from high-level politicians recalled the way Savile was once defended. “If you look at what David Cameron says or what [former Culture and Media Secretary] Maria Miller says and you swap Clarkson for Savile, you get this: David Cameron is effectively saying that Savile’s a real talent, Maria Miller saying Savile will be Savile.” What that translates into is that he believes that, like Savile’s victims, Tymon was afraid of reporting Clarkson because he felt that the BBC would ignore his complaint or would not believe him.

The backlash against the BBC has been severe. Perry McCarthy, the former “Black Stig”, had this to say: “This will be a nightmare for Jeremy and he will feel deeply concerned that someone at the Corporation has spoken his name in the same sentence as that disgusting creature Jimmy Savile. It is ill-conceived, as was the decision to suspend him and take Top Gear off the air. Jeremy is a brilliant broadcaster and a fantastic guy. It’s atrocious that these idiots at the BBC are paid so much money but run it about as well as a three-year-old child.” Conservative MP Conor Burns, who is currently on the the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee said: “It is not just patently absurd, it’s also deeply offensive to Jeremy Clarkson and those innocent people who were horribly abused by Savile”. Clarkson instructed his lawyers to demand an immediate retraction by the BBC and an investigation that would publicly reveal the identity of the individual who made the comparison. So far, the BBC hasn’t complied, and there’s a possibility that if there’s no retraction, even if Clarkson is reinstated, that he will leave the BBC. There’s even a possibility that the BBC will try to give Clarkson a “minder” (think “handler”) to keep his behavior in line. We doubt that will fly very far.

We sit and watch for the outcome…

UPDATE: The political website Guido Fawkes, who was behind the “Bring Back Clarkson” online petition, collected a million signatures since the suspension. What better way to deliver them to the front door of the BBC than with a tank and someone dressed as The Stig? It may not sway any opinion whatsoever on the matter, but yes…they actually drove a freaking tank, through London, to the door of the British Broadcasting Corporation.