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The Telegraph
The Telegraph
National
Victoria Ward

Prince Harry and Meghan accuse Jeremy Clarkson of ‘long-standing hate rhetoric and misogyny’

Jeremy Clarkson's farm
Jeremy Clarkson's farm

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have accused Jeremy Clarkson of apologising “solely” to the Prince Harry over his newspaper column about Meghan.

The couple issued a statement after the television presenter announced that he had sent an email to both the Duke and Duchess on Christmas Day to apologise for his “disgraceful” words.

It came as it emerged that Clarkson is “likely” to be dropped by Amazon, after he admitted that the streaming service was “incandescent” over the column.

A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said on Monday: “On Dec 25 2022, Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. The contents of his correspondence were marked private and confidential.

“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.

“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.”

harry and meghan - Chris Jackson/Getty Images
harry and meghan - Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The former Top Gear host faced a public backlash after writing in The Sun last month that he loathed the Duchess "on a cellular level" and was dreaming of the day that she was made to parade naked through every British town while crowds hurled excrement and chanted “shame”.

He added: “Everyone who’s my age thinks the same way.”

Clarkson, 62, presents both The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime Video, with new shows already in the pipeline for next year.

However, the company is expected to part ways with the broadcaster beyond the series that have already been commissioned, according to industry website Variety.

“This means that the [former] Top Gear presenter likely won’t be appearing in any new shows on Prime Video beyond 2024 (though there’s every chance a final Grand Tour episode could carry over into 2025),” it said.

Amazon Prime Video declined to comment.

‘Incandescent’

It came as Clarkson revealed he had emailed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to apologise for his “disgraceful” column.

In a lengthy post published on his Instagram page, Clarkson suggested that he was apologising because he had been asked to but 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. 

The statement went on to say that both ITV, which airs Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and Amazon were “incandescent” over the column.

ITV has indicated it may take similar action to Amazon's over Clarkson's role as host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

"Amazon reported tonight that they will be going ahead with filming that has already been commissioned, but not commissioning anything beyond that when it comes to his shows, ITV making it clear that their position is similar," ITV News correspondent Rachel Younger said in a report on the issue.

It is understood that one further series of the programme has been commissioned, but  there are currently no plans beyond that. 

Clarkson argued that he was not sexist, pointing to the fact they had never done “women can’t park” jokes on Top Gear.

He said had not initially understood why the column had generated such a backlash, but then realised he had forgotten to mention that he was making a reference to a scene in Game of Thrones.

As such, he acknowledged: “It looked like I was actually calling for revolting violence to rain down on Meghan’s head.”

He said he would try to be “interesting and vigilant” in future columns, although claimed it was hard to be both at the same time. 

“So can I move on now?” he added. “Not sure.”

Clarkson’s column has not appeared in The Sun since the furore over the article published on Dec 17, with the newspaper since telling readers he is “away”.

However, he returned to his Sunday Times column this weekend.

Kevin Lygo, managing director of ITV Studios, last month branded Clarkson's comments about the Duchess "awful", but said he would remain host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? “at the moment”.

Dame Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, has previously defended the Duchess.

She forced Piers Morgan to resign when he refused to publicly apologise after telling viewers of Good Morning Britain in March 2021 that he “didn't believe a word” of what Meghan told US chat show host Oprah Winfrey in an interview that month. 

Dame Carolyn said she “completely believed what [the Duchess] says”, adding that ITV was “totally committed to” mental health.

Column gets 17,500 complaints

Clarkson’s column was eventually removed from The Sun’s website - at his request - after 17,500 complaints made it the most complained-about article in the press regulator's history.

Dozens of MPs urged The Sun to take “definitive action” against Clarkson, saying: “Enough is enough.”

The row escalated again last week when the Duke of Sussex told ITV in an interview that the article incited violence against women and said the monarchy’s silence on the matter was “deafening”.

He described the column as “horrific”, “hurtful” and “cruel”.

The claim that Amazon planned to sever ties with Clarkson prompted some customers to threaten to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions, saying that Clarkson was the “only reason” for their membership.

However, others had vowed to cancel if Clarkson’s shows remained on the platform, with some suggesting the company should also stop selling his books.

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