Jeremy Clarkson has criticised the “fun police” after his high-budget beer advert was banned from both TV and radio for being “not compliant”.
The Grand Tour star, 65, is the face of Hawkstone Lager, which is made using barley grown at his Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire.
For the brand’s first official advert, Clarkson recruited a group of 34 farmers to sing a rendition of “Flower Duet” from the tragic opera Lakmé, with pints of Hawkstone in their hands.
Instead of singing the traditional French lyrics penned by Léo Delibes, the vocalists belt out: “F*** me, it’s good,” to the song’s tune.
As the performance concludes, Clarkson looks down the lens of the camera and reiterates to viewers: “Hawkston, it’s f***ing good.”
Clarkson shared the advert to Instagram, writing: “Our first ever proper Hawkstone commercial and for some extraordinary reason it’s been banned.”
Speaking to The Sun, the former Top Gear star characterised the advertising watchdog as “fun police” in “beige offices” who have “decided that the public can’t be trusted to watch it.”
Clarkson’s followers on Instagram were quick to celebrate the Hawkstone ad, with one person writing: “Sometimes his genius is almost frightening.”
The Independent has contacted the ASA for comment.
It comes after Clarkson previously said that selling Hawkstone beer at his new £1m pub in Asthall, near Burford in Oxfordshire, was the only thing saving him from financial ruin.
“If you’ve got a pub and if you want to see if this strategy works for you as well, get in touch with us at our website, and if we like the sound of your pub, if it is the kind of place we want to be in, we’ll send you a free keg,” he told his followers on social media. “Eighty-eight pints of Hawkstone lager or cider for nothing.”
Last April, The Cotswold Brewing Company were forced to recall Hawkstone Black and Hawkstone Spa Lager due to gluten from wheat in the product that was not listed on the label.
The Food Standards Agency said at the time the move caused the product to be a health risk to anyone with an allergy or intolerance to wheat or gluten, or coeliac disease.
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