A BBC boss has insulted nearly half the country by dismissing them using marketing jargon . Creative director Alan Yentob was trying to rebut the allegation that the corporation caters only for the ‘ metropolitan elite ’ . The executive , who earns around £330,000 a year , insisted that the BBC appeals to all sorts of audiences because it airs programmes that ‘ reach out to… C2s [ and ] DEs ’ . Scroll down for video . BBC creative director Alan Yentob has been mocked for using marketing speak to deny that the broadcaster was elitist describing working class people as 'C2s ' and 'Ds ' as he defended Jeremy Clarkson 's sacking . Mr Yentob 's comments quickly attracted the attention of social media users , who criticised the way he had described viewers . Robert MacDonald , tweeted : 'Did Alan Yentob really just say 'lots of our programmes reach out to C2 Ds ' ( in rejecting BBC is for 'metropolitan elite ' ) ? ' C2 and DE are terms used by marketing professionals to describe the working classes – more than 47 per cent of the UK population . Mr Yentob ’ s extraordinary declaration on Newsnight on Wednesday was an attempt to prove what an inclusive organisation the BBC is , amid concern that a huge swathe of its audience will stop tuning in now Jeremy Clarkson has been axed from Top Gear . However , his comments backfired as viewers used social media to accuse him of arrogance and sounding so ‘ out of touch ’ they thought it was a spoof . They accused Mr Yentob of using obscure jargon that only the metropolitan elite would understand , in a way that suggested that working class viewers are a niche audience . John Hemming , Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley , accused Mr Yentob of ‘ arrogance ’ which only confirmed his status as part of the metropolitan elite . He said : ‘ In essence , he ’ s admitting that the BBC doesn ’ t do much for the working classes , and he is doing that in a way that is not making it easy for many people to understand. ’ Mr Yentob – who earns more than £180,000 a year as creative director as well as an estimated £150,000 fee for editing and presenting the BBC arts series Imagine – made the remarks as he attempted to explain the decision to fire Clarkson . Mr Yentob was appearing on Newsnight to defend the sacking of Jeremy Clarkson , whose contract is not being renewed after he attacked Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon . Twitter user Sacred Antinous wrote : 'Yentob describes all those who are n't 'metropolitan elite ' as C2DEs . Our licence fee is so well spent on this man of the people # newsnight ' The terms C2s and Ds are marketing terms to describe working class people . Presenter Emily Maitlis asked if getting rid of the Top Gear host would make it harder for the BBC to reach ‘ a demographic ... increasingly disregarded ’ by a corporation which ‘ plays largely to the metropolitan elite ’ . Apparently unaware of the irony , Mr Yentob responded : ‘ I don ’ t know that I would buy that , actually , about the metropolitan elite . 'There are quite a lot of programmes which reach out to audiences which are C2s , DEs , which aren ’ t the metropolitan elite. ’ The terms are part of the Approximated Social Grade , which defines social groups by occupation . AB ( 22 per cent of the UK ) broadly covers higher and intermediate managerial . C1 ( 31 per cent ) is supervisory , clerical and junior managerial . C2 ( 21 per cent ) is skilled manual while DE ( 26 per cent ) is semi-skilled and unskilled , plus the unemployed . Others questioned whether the BBC really were keen to make programmes that appealed to all audiences . Toby Wood said : 'Only metropolitan elite luvvies speak like Alan Yentob on @ BBCNewsnight - he 's in more opaque bubble than Westminster politicians # Clarkson ' A BBC spokesman said : ‘ There ’ s nothing elitist about making programmes and services used by 97 per cent of people every week , and that ’ s the point Alan made. ’ Mr Yentob admitted that axing Clarkson marked ‘ a bad day ’ for the BBC . But he said director general Lord Hall felt he had no choice after the Top Gear star ’ s unprovoked physical and verbal attack on his producer . However , he refused to rule out Clarkson returning to the BBC . Clarkson attacked Mr Tymon ( pictured ) leaving him in such a state that he later took himself to A & E . The BBC has said that Top Gear will continue without Clarkson , but there are doubts as to whether co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May will return . Consumers are sometimes grouped into classes or social grades used to describe their social grade and earnings for market research purposes . Social grade A denotes people of upper middle class who have higher manergerial , administrative or professional roles , B and C1 are middle class , C2 are the skilled working class , D are working class and E are low grade workers or state pensioners with no other income . These social grade demographics were originally developed by the National Readership Survey to provide audience research for advertising in newspapers and magazines to show the audience for each publication . However , they now more widely used in market and statistical research and analysis , as well as social commentary .
Alan Yentob was appearing on Oisin Tymon over Jeremy Clarkson row . Denied BBC was elitist as programmes attract audiences that are 'C2 , Ds ' Twitter users said use of the terms showed that Yentob was elitist . Terms are used in marketing to describe working class consumers .