BBC “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson is fighting for his career after being caught mumbling the “N-word” in an outtake from the phenomenally popular car show.  He had denied the initial report but was publicly humiliated when the offended video was released to the Internet.  The Beeb is not pleased.

Clarkson put out a groveling video in which he says he is “horrified” that it sounded as though he used racist language while filming an episode and was “begging your forgiveness” for the fact it appeared that he did. 

In a video posted on his Twitter account, Clarkson said, “I was mortified by this, horrified.  It is a word I loathe.

“Please be assured I did everything in my power to not use that word.  And as I’m sitting here begging your forgiveness for the fact that obviously my efforts weren’t quite good enough.”

What made it all the more embarrassing is that before the video came out, Clarkson blasted the Mirror tabloid for reporting the offensive word, denying the story and claiming the Mirror had gone “too far”.

Clarkson was filming an episode in 2013 when he used the phrase.  The start of the show featured a segment where he was test driving the Toyota GT86 (oh I love this car) and the similarly priced Subaru BRZ.  Since they’re the same car with different badges, Clarkson chooses with a nursery rhyme “Eeny meeny miny moe..”, but twice mumbled the version that would get his mouth washed out with soap had he merely been an errant little kid.  On the third try, he substitutes the phrase “catch a teacher by the toe..”

The BBC released a terse statement.

“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.”

Hey kids, drift responsibly and unless you’re Samuel L. Jackson making a movie, never, ever use the n-word.