BBC TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has asked forgiveness for using a racist term during a taping of his show `` Top Gear , '' after Britain 's Daily Mirror newspaper brought a media storm by posting the footage online . Clarkson mumbled the n-word while reciting the children 's nursery rhyme `` eeny , meeny , miny , moe '' to choose between two cars . That version of the take was never aired . Clarkson posted an online explanation Thursday in which he said he was `` begging for forgiveness '' -- and argued that he had done everything he could to avoid using the word . `` Ordinarily , I do n't respond to newspaper allegations , but on this occasion , I feel I must make an exception , '' he said . Clarkson said that in filming the section a couple of years ago , he was very keen to avoid using the offensive term in a version of the nursery rhyme and mumbled it on two takes before replacing it with the word `` teacher '' on a third . `` When I viewed this footage several weeks later , I realized that in one of the versions , if I listened very carefully with the sound turned right up , that I had actually used the word I was trying to obscure , '' he said . `` I was mortified by this , horrified . It 's a word I loathe , and I did everything in my power to make sure that that version did not appear in the program . '' This included contacting the production office to ensure that another take was used in the show , he said . Clarkson initially denied the report by the Mirror , tweeting , `` I did not use the n word . Never use it . The Mirror has gone way too far this time . '' But after the newspaper posted the footage in question online and amid calls from some quarters for his resignation , the presenter was forced to backtrack . He posted his video message less than 12 hours after his initial denial . A BBC statement said , `` Jeremy Clarkson has set out the background to this regrettable episode . We have made it absolutely clear to him , the standards the BBC expects on air and off . We have left him in no doubt about how seriously we view this . '' `` Top Gear '' airs in a number of countries worldwide , including the United States .
Jeremy Clarkson asks forgiveness for using the n-word on a shoot . The `` Top Gear '' host mumbled the word while reciting a nursery rhyme ; it was n't aired . Comment: BBC : `` We have left him in no doubt about how seriously we view this ''