Jeremy Clarkson will likely be dropped by Amazon, it has been reported, as he revealed he had emailed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to apologise for his “disgraceful” column, which is alleged to have “incited violence against Meghan”. The Telegraph has the story.
The former Top Gear host wrote in the Sun last month that he had dreamed of the Duchess being paraded through British towns naked while crowds hurl excrement and chant “shame”.
He claimed that “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way”.
In a lengthy post published on his Instagram page, Clarkson suggested that he was apologising because he had been asked to and admitted that both ITV and Amazon were “incandescent”.
But he insisted he was sorry “all the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head”.
He said he had emailed the Sussexes to apologise on Christmas Day but at the same time, told the couple he was “baffled” by their Netflix series.
Meanwhile, industry sources revealed that Amazon Prime Video, which broadcasts The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm, would likely be parting ways with the presenter and would not be working on any further seasons beyond those already commissioned.
It would mean that Clarkson would likely not appear in any new shows on Prime Video beyond 2024, according to Variety.
His column was eventually removed from the Sun’s website – at Clarkson’s request – after 17,500 complaints made it the most complained-about article in the press regulator’s history.
The row escalated again last week, when Prince Harry told ITV in an interview that the “cruel” article incited violence against women and said the monarchy’s silence on the matter was “deafening”.
Clarkson noted on Instagram that apologies never work. Yet he grovelled before Duchess Difficult anyway. He wrote:
One of the strange things I’ve noticed in recent times is that whenever an MP or a well-known person is asked to apologise for something, no matter how heartfelt or profound that apology may be, it’s never enough for the people who called for it in the first place.
So I’m going to try and buck the trend this morning with an apology for the things I said in a Sun column recently about Meghan Markle. I really am sorry. All the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head. This is me putting my hands up. It’s a mea culpa with bells on.
Usually, I read what I’ve written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry. So when I’d finished, I just pressed Send. And then, when the column appeared the next day, the landmine exploded.
Clarkson claims he had inadvertently omitted to mention it was a Game of Thrones reference.
We’ve all been there, I guess. In that precise moment when we suddenly realise we’ve completely messed up. You are sweaty and cold at the same time. And your head pounds. And you feel sick. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Had I really said that? It was horrible.
I knew what had happened straight away. I’d been thinking of a scene in Games Of Thrones, but I’d forgotten to mention this. So it looked like I was actually calling for revolting violence to rain down on Meghan’s head.
I was very angry with myself because in all those controversial days on Top Gear, when I was accused of all sorts of things, it was very rarely sexism.
I was mortified and so was everyone else. My phone went mad. Very close friends were furious. Even my own daughter took to Instagram to denounce me.
He expresses worry that he won’t be able to write interesting columns anymore now that he must remain “vigilant” against offending the professionally offended.
So can I move on now? Not sure. It’s hard to be interesting and vigilant at the same time. You never hear peals of laughter coming from a health and safety seminar. But I promise you this, I will try.
Never apologise to the woke, Jeremy. It has only ever made things worse.
Let’s hope Amazon doesn’t drop him, and bring to an end the The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm. You’d think the company would realise that if it doesn’t stand by its hugely popular talent, it doesn’t deserve them. But the ‘woke mind virus’ makes people do some very self-destructive things.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Sussexes have rejected Clarkson’s apology, saying he has a “long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny”. MailOnline has more.
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