Jeremy Clarkson
(Picture: PA)Jeremy Clarkson has criticised the country’s top scientists and said we should “go through life with our fingers crossed” and “if you die, you die”.
The TV presenter made the comments in an interview with Times Radio, where he bizarrely gave his view how to deal with a pandemic.
He claimed Covid scientists, who have been advising the government on how to save lives, “should get back in their box”.
Mr Clarkson, who was sacked from the BBC show Top Gear when he punched a producer in a row over lunch, also described the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) as “communists”.
Sage provides scientific advice to help politicians with their decision making during the pandemic.
“When it started, I read up on pandemics and they tend to be four years long,” he said.
He added that he believes we should “go through life with our fingers crossed and a smile on our face”.
“I can see Boris [Johnson] doesn’t want to open it up and shut us back down again,” he said. “But if it’s going to be four years... and who knows, it could be 40 years.”
He then made the comment that “if it’s going to be forever, let’s open it up and if you die, you die”.
Some 153,342 people in the UK have died with Covid mentioned on their death certificate.
It is reported that coronavirus has killed more than four million people around the world since the pandemic began.
His comments were widely condemned on social media.
Chief executive of Every Doctor UK, Dr Julia Grace Patterson said: “Why is anyone interested in what Jeremy Clarkson has to say about Covid-19 or scientists?”
Meanwhile, the writer James Felton commented on Twitter: “Strong brave words from a man who punched a colleague because his food was tepid.”
Mr Clarkson was being interviewed while promoting a lockdown special of the Amazon Prime series The Grand Tour, alongside co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond.
