LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The host of the BBC's "Top Gear," Jeremy Clarkson, is under fire for giving a Nazi salute while mocking the BMW Mini built in Oxford, England.
The gesture came as the soccer officials are working to stamp out anti-German sentiments in the run up to the World Cup in Berlin, the Daily Mirror reported Thursday.
"This is the type of behavior we're trying to stamp out in fans," the official soccer organization English FA said.
Clarkson joked the Mini had a satellite navigation system "that only goes to Poland," a reference to the Nazi invasion in 1939, and said the fan belt would last 1,000 years in reference to Adolf Hitler's dream of a 1,000 year Third Reich.
David Marsh of the German-British Business Forum wrote to the BBC calling Clarkson's actions "poisonous rubbish ... out of place in our society."
He went on to tell the publicly-funded broadcaster: "Had he made such slurs against Muslims or Jews he would probably be prosecuted."
The BBC said Wednesday it would investigate the complaints against Clarkson "in the normal way," the Mirror said.
