Ken Block Hooned Around London For Top Gear And Now A Load Of People Are Angry
Over the weekend, Top Gear put on a pretty epic display of oversteer and tyre smoke with a certain Kenneth Block hooning around some closed roads in central London. Unfortunately, not everyone was happy about it. First up was Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne, who tweeted about the “noisy episode” of Top Gear being filmed, and urged host Chris Evans to “keep it down please.”
Not so much of an issue given that George Osbourne is probably one of the most hated men in Britain right now, but more serious was the anger caused by some of the rubber burning taking place near the Cenotaph, the Whitehall-based war memorial which hosts the National Service of Remembrance.
Lighting up the tyres on Block’s Mustang so close to the memorial has caused anger among many. Retired British Army Officer Colonel Richard Kemp hit out at the Top Gear production crew, likening the Cenotaph to a cemetery and branding the filming that took place near it as “gravely disrespectful”. He also expressed concern that the structure could have been damaged had something gone wrong.
Chris Evans has since apologised “unreservedly”, and of course, all of this is being portrayed in mainstream media as another disaster for the Top Gear reboot. But, since we have Top Gear causing offence and generating an enormous amount of publicity in the process, this all has an air of familiarity about it. How many times did Clarkson, Hammond and May cause uproar while filming the show? To me, this seems to be bringing back a sense of business as usual to proceedings.
As to the Cenotaph issue, I’m sure causing offence was the last thing the production team wanted to do, and some credit is due for Evans holding up his hands and apologising so swiftly.
What are your thoughts?
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
‘gravely disrespectful’
‘gravely disrespectful’
‘Oh look at us!!! We’re controversial as well like the Trio! Give us likes pleassse :(‘
Such a pathetic attempt to imitate the old show.
change the show name and ppl will watch it
PotGear
Don’t tell me these apes are gonna ruin Ken Blocks career too.
I think I can understand why people got upset, it is a war memorial and it is frequented daily by lots of people, I get the argument that yes it was only next to it and Ken wasn’t doing doughnuts round the base of it but even so it maybe wasn’t the ideal location for this kind of stunt, there are plenty of spots in London that may be slightly better suited to it! Something the Clarkson, Hammond and May always had the utmost respect for was our servicemen and women, and that often came across on the show, if they had done this kind of thing I would have expected them to do it around other areas of London and maybe end there to pay respects to those we have lost, I think the fact that maybe it wasn’t acknowledged in any way might get people’s backs up, it is an area of somberness and an area where a lot of people do come to grieve and pay respects and so forth so I can understand some people being upset by it! Having said that it was all closed off at the time (shame as it would have been properly exciting if they’d been able to have a bit of a hoon with more public access) and no real “damage” was done, just a bit of acknowledgement of the fact that they were in a place of grieving and sorrow would have been nice! Next time get Ken to jump tower bridge when it’s being raised! That would be proper excitement!
San Francisco. Los Angeles. And now Dubai. Ken Block managed to close these cities down and perform his legendary Gymkhana videos. Meanwhile a-holes in London get annoyed at the Hoonicorn. Britain. You are truly a disturbed country.
Putting a war memorial at risk, as well as being seriously disrespectful is disturbing… or did you forget 34 million soldier died in the first and second world wars?
Bitches be Bitchin’
I’m angry that more people weren’t informed Block would be driving the Hoonicorn on the streets of London: I’d have been up there in a flash to watch that!
I don’t think they filmed that segment without official permits.
And as part of that, they most likely had to tell the officials the route.
So why is there so much stress about it now?