Jeremy Clarkson has come under fire for joking about catastrophic wildfires which have burned through Australia.
The fires, which have been burning since September 2019, have claimed the lives of at least 24 people, Mirror Online reports .
But the former Top Gear host showed a lack of sensitivity to the situation in his column for The Sun.
He wrote: "I've suspected for some time God didn't want people to live in Australia.
"He created it as a continent far, far away where he could house all his experiments that had gone wrong."
He added: "For millions of years, this big, sandy cupboard under the stairs went unnoticed.
"But the along came Captain Cook and now the world knows all about Oz and its stupid, dangerous creatures.
"Plainly, God is embarrassed. Because he's decided to set fire to it."
The column infuriated readers who expressed their anger on Twitter.
One wrote: "I am in #UTTER #disgust that @JeremyClarkson would say that #god is so #embarrassed of #Australia that he had to set #fire to it, why would you say such a thing? How could you say this? Is that what you've said to those #families who have lost there [sic] #loved ones?"
Another said: "@JeremyClarkson your article for @TheSun about the #AUSTRALIANBUSHFIRES is absolutely chronic and awful. Completely dreadful and so far from being helpful or constructive. To say that 'God is embarrassed' and that is why Australia is burning. You absolute turd."
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