Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has been involved in an ugly confrontation with a fan who tried to take the TV star’s photo.
Clarkson was having dinner in an Australian restaurant with James May and Top Gear Australia’s Shane Jacobson when fellow diner Michael Garner tried to take a cheeky picture with his mobile phone.
Riled by the invasion, Clarkson is said to have confronted the Australian fan and grabbed the phone, slamming it into the table before passing it to a female colleague.
JEREMY CLARKSON’S LAMBORGHINI FOR SALE
One witness said Clarkson was frustrated that Garner hadn’t asked for permission to take the photograph but the Aussie has defended his behaviour during the unfortunate altercation.
He told 3AW: “We weren’t intrusive. I didn’t walk up to him. He was 8ft away, he wasn’t close by.
“He’s got out of his seat, stormed over and shirt-fronted me.”
Jacobson apologised to Mr Garner and admitted that the 51-year-old motoring journalist had been having ‘a bad day’. Garner claims Clarkson didn’t apologise personally.
Clarkson has admitted in the past he’s not overly friendly towards his legion of fans.
In a 2008 newspaper column the killjoy described autograph hunters as the “bane of my life” and revealed all requests are met “with either a fierce growl or a muted threat of extreme violence using power tools, big dogs and electricity”.
Even though I hate Clarkson with a passion, in this case, he was right. A restaurant isn’t a public space and everyone, even famous tossers, deserve their privacy. Garner should have apologised, but paid for it with his camera being damaged.