You don't get drunk at work and start throwing punches and expect to keep your job.
and THIS is why you take everything with a pinch of salt when reading about this sort of thing.
The actual investigation as conducted by Ken MacQuarrie makes NO reference to anyone being drunk, or that punches were being thrown.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/what-the-bbcs-inquiry-into-jeremy-clarksons-fracas-with-a-top-gear-producer-found-10133373.html
PDF link for download of report
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/investigation-summary.pdf
I also have noticed in EVERY single one of the people that respond agreeing with what the BBC did by firing him is that they embellish the incident and fail EVERY SINGLE time to acknowledge that not only did Clarkson make multiple attempts to apologies to the victim but was the one that actually started the proceedings for an official investigation.
The fact is he shouldn't have been fired.
Not withstanding the show's popularity and the money that it makes the BBC, at every stage this incident as highlighted examples of a corporation that has mis-managaed every single aspect when it comes to Clarkson and this incident itself.
It is no shock that Clarkson is more than a little hot headed, the people responsible for his management both personnel and within the BBC should have been managing him and his behaviour long before this incident occurred. Even then the lead ups to the whole incident aren't very clear. Does it excuse hitting someone, no, but as someone who suffers from hypoglycemia I can understand just how quickly I can get annoyed when I have been working hard and need something to eat. Again no excuse but everyone loves to kick around the whiny baby wanting a Steak and not getting his way when we seem to have very little info about the lead up to the incident.
After the incident the BBC should have done an internal investigation, the problem though is on the back of Jimmy Saville they are so scared of being accused of covering things up they went to the polar opposite, canning the last three episodes of Top Gear and making a very public statement to the fact 'yes one of our talent has done something wrong look everyone look we are raking him across the coals in the middle of the town centre, look we don't cover things up anymore'.
If Clarkson had made no attempt to show remorse or had acted in the 'I don't give a fuck manner towards the victim' that is being made out by the sack him supporters, then yes sacking him AFTER the current run of Top Gear had ended, would have been the right decision. Instead the current run should have been completed, because cancelling it affects no one but the people who fucking pay the BBC's wages, they should have conducted an internal investigation and taken in to account the fact that Clarkson had tried to apologies (many times) and clearly knew he had done something wrong they should have punished him via his new contract (which was up for renewal anyway). If he was unwilling to accept those terms then he could have opted not to renew.
I love how everyone focuses on Clarkson in this case because he is the obvious big name celeb but will their be ANY investigation in to the management that allowed this to happen in the first place or an investigation in to how piss poorly the whole thing was handled or an investigation in to the high ranking BBC individual that actually compared the whole thing to the Jimmy Saville scandal. I doubt it.
