Jeremy Clarkson has said he is “horrified” his incendiary comments about Meghan Markle in a newspaper column have “caused so much hurt.”
The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm star caused outraged over the weekend in an article for The Sun in the UK, in which he said the Duchess of Sussex should be “made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!” and throw lumps of excrement at her.”
Clarkson added that, “Everyone who’s my age thinks the same way.”
The line was a clear reference to a pivotal scene in HBO’s Game of Thrones, when — spoilers follow — Cersei Lannister is forced to make a ‘walk of atonement’ after the Faith Militant find her guilty of several crimes.
Clarkson also wrote he “hated” [Markle] on a cellular level,” with his comments coming after the launch of the final three episodes of Markle’s Netflix documentary Harry and Meghan last week, which contained several explosive barbs directed at the British media and the Royal Family.
The Sun article broadly suggests Prince Harry is constantly manipulated by Markle — a line often directed at the Duchess by detractors in Britain.
Independent press regulator Ipso has so far received 6,000 complaints and even Clarkson’s own daughter Emily Clarkson wrote a message on Instagram Stories distancing herself from her father’s views.
Today, Jeremy Clarkson wrote on Twitter: “Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.”
The statement appears to stop short of a full apology but acknowledging how far he had gone could go some way in saving face.
Clarkson, considered a prickly but entertaining character in the UK and beyond, has fronted several popular shows such as the BBC’s Top Gear and Prime Video’s The Grand Tour and presented many other shows, including weekly satire program Have I Got News For You.
There has been no statement from Prime Video owner Amazon.