BBC suspends 'Top Gear' host Jeremy Clarkson and pulls the show from the air

Controversial "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC following a "fracas with a producer," the network said.

The BBC announced that Clarkson's highly popular car show "Top Gear" has been pulled from the network's lineup and will not air this Sunday.

Clarkson, who is also a highly paid newspaper columnist, has been reprimanded on several occasions by the BBC for his controversial statements.

This latest incident is not the first dustup in Clarkson's illustrious career.

In 2003, the "Top Gear" host famously threw a glass of water at and threatened then Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan with physical harm on board the last flight of the Concorde after the newspaper published photos that showed Clarkson embracing a woman who was not his wife.

A year later, at the British Press Awards, Clarkson and archnemesis Morgan confronted each other once again. This time punches were thrown, with Clarkson swinging at and hitting Morgan in the temple.

Both Clarkson and Morgan would later confirm that the "Top Gear" host broke his finger in the fracas.

In 2014, Clarkson found himself and his show mired in controversy after outtakes from an episode of "Top Gear" showed him using racially insensitive language. Clarkson was reprimanded last year by British government media regulators Ofcom for using another racially insensitive term to describe a person of South Asian origin in an episode of the show.

According to BBC News, Clarkson had been given a "final warning" after his controversial comments in 2014. The network had reportedly threatened to fire the host if there were any further incidents.

"Top Gear," in its present format, has been on the air since 2002 with the trio of Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May at the helm. The show is in the middle of its 22nd season, with three episodes yet to air.

Over the past decade, "Top Gear" has become a global media phenomenon with 350 million viewers worldwide, and has spawned local spinoffs in Australia, South Korea, Russia, and the US. In total, the "Top Gear" brand is valued at an estimated $1.5 billion.

Here is the BBC's complete statement:

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