James May claims The Grand Tour will walk the fine line between progressiveness and defiant familiarity when it returns to Amazon Prime in December.
The show has previously drawn criticism from more liberal quarters for its arguable use of 'homophobic' jokes, while Jeremy Clarkson himself recently issued a stinging riposte to the growing concept of cancel culture.
But the presenter, 58, insists the show will be sensitive to societal change while employing the dry wit that originally helped May, Clarkson and Richard Hammond develop an instant rapport with fans.
Balancing act: James May claims The Grand Tour will walk the fine line between progressiveness and defiant familiarity when it returns to Amazon Prime in December
Their latest series, The Grand Tour: Carnage a Trois, finds the trio in a race of their lives as they embrace French car culture, filmed in Wales as a consequence of travel restrictions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
Of the show's divisive humour, May told the Daily Star and other outlets: 'I hope we’re always careful about the jokes we make because we’re not actually trying to alienate people or offend people.
'We make fun of people – that’s not quite the same thing. We try to be inclusive in that everybody is equally open for mockery and derision – mainly ourselves, let’s be honest.
Coming soon: The latest series, The Grand Tour: Carnage a Trois, finds the trio in a race of their lives as they embrace French car culture
'So I’m not aware that we made any crass homophobic jokes or comments. I hope we didn’t, but I’ll have to look back at it.'
He added: 'I don’t think we’re running scared of cancel culture and all the rest of it but I suppose unconsciously and just like everybody else in the world, we’re probably reassessing how we think about things, which is no bad thing in my view because society is a work in progress and it must always move on.
'So we’re not entrenched. We haven’t dug ourselves in and said, ‘No, we’re living in the 1970s with 1970s attitudes, make us a cup of tea, love.’ We’re not doing that. We’re actually quite modern people, I think.
'Except for Richard Hammond, who is obviously stuck in about 1955 in his E-Type Jaguar. But yes, on the whole, we’re reasonably progressive, I hope.'
