‘Top Gear’ Host Jeremy Clarkson Comes Under Fire for ‘Vile’ Column About Meghan Markle

Jeremy Clarkson and Meghan Markle
Everett Collection; Getty Images

Top Gear and Clarkson’s Farm star Jeremy Clarkson is taking to social media to apologize for an article he wrote for The Sun about his “hatred” of The Duchess of Sussex following the release of the Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan.

The Independent Press Standards Organization received over 12,000 complaints over the piece about Meghan Markle. In the aforementioned article, Clarkson wrote: “At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she 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.”

The description of being paraded through the streets references a famous scene in Season 5 of Game Of Thrones in which the character Cersei Lannister, portrayed by actress Lena Headey, is forced to perform a “walk of atonement” and standers-by pelt her with rocks and excrement while chanting “shame.”

The column was condemned by many, including London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Clarkson’s own daughter, Emily, on social media.

“What is it about strong, confident women that makes some men so angry they lash out in this way?” one person asked on Twitter. “Vile remarks like this are never OK, are not dark humour or banter. They are sick and disgusting and should never have been printed in a paper. Shame on him.”

In the wake of the backlash, Clarkson went to Twitter to apologize. “Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it,” he starts the post.

He continues, “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.”

What do you think of his response? Sound off in the comments below.