Jeremy Clarkson Promises to Take More Responsible Approach in Future After Causing Offense with Article on Meghan Markle
In response to a contentious column he published in The Sun newspaper, Jeremy Clarkson, the previous host of Top Gear, has publicly apologized to Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
In a statement made public on Monday, Clarkson claimed that on Christmas Day, he had sent the couple an email to apologize for his language and actions. He admitted that his words were “disgraceful” and expressed his “profound regret” for any harm he may have caused.
Clarkson mentioned Meghan being pelted with human waste in a passage of the questioned column, which was written in December and was published. Since then, the Sun newspaper has taken the article down from its website and apologized for publishing it.
A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan commented on the incident, saying Clarkson is not an isolated case and the couple have been treated similarly by the media in the past.
Prior to Christmas, Clarkson had also issued a statement in which he apologized for the harm his article had caused. He expressed his “horror” at having caused such an offense and made a commitment to act more responsibly going forward.
In the column, Clarkson wrote that he lay in bed “dreaming of the day when she [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.
Furthermore, he said “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way”, and that her appeal to young individuals who “think she was a prisoner of Buckingham Palace” made him “despair.”
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Article Published
Since the publication of Jeremy Clarkson’s contentious column in The Sun newspaper, a record 25,000 complaints have been made to the press watchdog Ipso.
The piece, which made offensive references to the Duchess of Sussex, has sparked widespread condemnation and calls for accountability.
In response, Clarkson took to social media to issue a public apology and take responsibility for his actions.
In a lengthy Instagram post on Monday, the presenter of Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm and ITV’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? admitted that he usually reads what he’s written before filing his copy but on this occasion, he was home alone and in a hurry.
He acknowledged that this was no excuse for the hurt caused by his words and promised to be more mindful in the future.
“So when I’d finished, I just pressed send. And then, when the column appeared the next day, the land mine exploded.”
He acknowledged that he had made a mistake and realized that he had “completely messed up” after reading the article in The Sun.
“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.”
He explained that he had been inspired by a scene in Game of Thrones when he wrote about the Duchess being abused in the street, but he forgot to mention it in the article.
“So it looked like I was actually calling for revolting violence to rain down on Meghan’s head.”
What They Think
According to a statement from a representative for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Clarkson only sent his apology to Prince Harry.
“While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny,” the spokesperson stated.
“Unless each of his other pieces were also written ‘in a hurry’, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.”
In a recent conversation with ITV, Prince Harry criticized Clarkson and also expressed his disappointment that members of the Royal Family did not speak out about the issue at the time.
In his statement, Clarkson further said he had “tried to explain” himself. “But still, there were calls for me to be sacked and charged with a hate crime. More than 60 MPs demanded action to be taken. ITV, who make Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and Amazon, who make the Farm Show and the Grand Tour, were incandescent.”
It was then that he “wrote to everyone who works with me saying how sorry I was” and emailed the duke and duchess.
“On Christmas morning, I emailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologise to them too. I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I’d used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry.”Read More
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Source: Celebrity News
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