Jeremy Clarkson says caustic comments against BBC bosses were meant as joke

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has said comments he made against the show’s broadcaster BBC were meant as a joke.

Jeremy Clarkson, 54, criticized the corporation’s bosses while at a charity event in London on March 19.

An investigation into Jeremy Clarkson’s current suspension following a “fracas” with a producer is still ongoing.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Jeremy Clarkson said his comments were “all meant in jest”.

The presenter said his “choice language” was to help boost the price of his auction item – a lap of the Top Gear test track.

“By being brief, controversial and a bit sweary, I woke the room up and the auction prize I was offering… raised £100,000,” Jeremy Clarkson said.

His comments at the Roundhouse Gala were made more widely public on March 20 after a video of the event was posted online.

During his speech, Jeremy Clarkson also suggested he expected to be “sacked” by the BBC, auctioning what he described as his “last lap” on the race track.

In his newspaper column on March 22, Jeremy Clarkson appeared to further hint he was no longer working for the corporation writing: “I used to work on a television show called Top Gear.”

Jeremy Clarkson was suspended from Top Gear on March 10, following an alleged altercation with producer Oisin Tymon.

An online petition calling for Jeremy Clarkson’s reinstatement has been signed by more than one million people since his suspension.