Was The Mozambique Special Insensitive and Offensive?

The final episode of the second season of The Grand Tour has come and gone, and surprisingly, it brought quite a bit of controversy with it. Did you know the Mozambique special offended a bunch of people online? I wasn’t aware of that until I was browsing Twitter and Facebook and saw that a majority of comments and threads were about how insensitive the episode was.

The bulk of the complaints seem to be this: it was uncool of Jeremy and Co. to make light of poverty and to waste food like all that fish. Equally uncool was the end where they showed back up in the village where they promised a bunch of fish, but instead set up booths where they had virtually nothing.

I’m usually at the back of the queue to jump on the PC bandwagon but not sure about the last episode of #thegrandtour at all. Uncomfortable on a number of levels.

— John Ennis (@John_R_Ennis) February 16, 2018

Sure having a bunch of scripted humor in an impoverished area of the country may not have been the best of ideas, but at the same time, the operative word here is “scripted.” Remember “scripted?” It’s that thing that many fans complain that The Grand Tour uses too much of.

#thegrandtour really unimpressed with the latest episode. Is feeding the world's most deprived people such a minor issue that you feel you can laugh about it? Was a massive fan but my opinion of you lads has really changed! #notfunny #inconsiderate #hungernotcomedy #amazonfailure

— Carrie Tough (@ToughCarrie) February 18, 2018

It’s interesting, then, that there are those that suddenly believe that the boys actually went in there and waved a bunch of ruined fish under the noses of a starving village. Look, I don’t claim to know anything of what goes on behind the scenes, especially in regards to filming in another country.

It seems unlikely, however, that the cast and crew did exactly what you saw onscreen. Was there some kind of behind the scenes humanitarian aid for the village in order to allow filming there? Who knows, but it seems more likely than Jeremy and Co. showing up, promising fish, then arriving with ruined food and laughing in the villager’s faces.

At least I would hope not. At the end, it’s three celebrities making fun of the often shallow nature of celebrity charity, but with the actual issue of poverty as a backdrop. It’s an iffy premise to begin with.

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