BBC decides not to renew Jeremy Clarkson’s contract

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson (center) at the funeral service for Margaret Thatcher in 2013. (Georg Schmidt / Shutterstock)

LONDON — The BBC says it has decided not to renew the contract of “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson after a fracas with his producer.

BBC Director-General Tony Hall said in a statement Wednesday that he decided to publish the findings that Clarkson physically and verbally attacked a producer for the program.

The investigation found that the producer had to go to a hospital after the incident.

Hall says that he knows how popular the program is “and I also know that this decision will divide opinion,” but that a line had been crossed in the case of Clarkson’s often controversial behavior.

Last year, Argentina’s ambassador demanded an apology from the BBC after the “Top Gear” crew allegedly referenced the country’s 1982 war with Britain over the Falkland Islands.