U.K. TV host
under fire for antigay slang

A British government agency has reprimanded a television show host after he described a car on the air using a slang term for the word gay. Jeremy Clarkson, host of the BBC auto show Top Gear, was responding to an audience member who called the Daihatsu Copen a gay-looking car, according to Reuters

"A bit gay, yes--very ginger beer," Clarkson said in an episode last July.

Ofcom, the U.K.'s government agency that regulates broadcasting and communications, wrote in a ruling that the audience member could not be held responsible for his words because gay could mean "foolish, stupid, and socially inappropriate or disapproved of and lame," the agency wrote. Clarkson would be held responsible for his statement because it was clear that he was using the word to refer to gay people.

"This...meant that the use of the word became capable of giving offense," Ofcom said. "In the context, there was no justification for using the word in this way."

According to the report, the show received five complaints after being aired. (The Advocate)