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May, 52, who hosted "Top Gear" with Clarkson and Richard
Hammond, told British newspaper The Guardian that it would be
"lame" to return to the program with a "surrogate Jeremy."
"It has to be the three of us. You can't just put a surrogate
Jeremy in and expect it to carry on. It would be forced. I don't
believe they would be stupid enough to try that," he said.
Earlier in the day, the BBC said on its website that "Top Gear"
producer Andy Wilman "has quit the BBC show in the wake of
Jeremy Clarkson's departure".
It added that Wilman "was an old school friend of Clarkson,
helped reinvent the show and oversaw its growth into a globally
successful programme."
Wilman had previously denied he was leaving when a leaked email
suggested he was, the BBC said.
Clarkson, an opinionated and outspoken media figure, was
suspended by the BBC in March after he was involved in a
"fracas" while on a shoot for the show, which is syndicated
around the world and is one of the BBC's most successful and
lucrative programmes.
Just over two weeks later, the BBC announced it had dropped
Clarkson, saying he had been responsible for an “unprovoked
physical and verbal attack” that left a colleague bleeding and
in need of hospital treatment.
A BBC investigation found that Clarkson had subjected Oisin
Tymon to a 30-second physical attack following a sustained
verbal tirade, after which Tymon sought medical help.
Clarkson, who had generated both controversy and profits for
Britain's publicly funded broadcaster, had been on a final
warning over accusations last year that he had used racist
language while filming the show.
Last October the show sparked a diplomatic incident between
Britain and Argentina, which went to war in 1982 over the
Falkland Islands.
A Top Gear television crew was forced to flee Argentina after
driving a Porsche 928 GT with the registration number H982 FKL,
which some people suggested could refer to the Falklands
conflict.
(Reporting by Michael Roddy, additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy
in Los Angeles; Editing by Andrew Roche and Cynthia Osterman)
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