Jeremy Clarkson ‘apologised’ for his outrageous Meghan Markle column and got all the responses he deserved
You’ll have seen by now the outrage that greeted Jeremy Clarkson’s latest column in the Sun, in which he said this about Meghan Markle.
You can read our pick of the responses here, although Carole Vorderman spoke for many, many people when she said this.
NO Jeremy Clarkson. Not on any level, in any circumstance, is it ok to write this stuff about any woman & absolutely NO to “everyone who’s my age thinks the same”
No no no. We absolutely do NOT think the same.
Listen to the noise Jeremy. The crowds are chanting “shame on YOU” pic.twitter.com/OzCt9lHG16— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) December 18, 2022
Now Clarkson, who made the outrageous comments after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s latest documentary series began on Netflix last week, has attempted to row back just a little bit.
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.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) December 19, 2022
And on the ‘non-apology apology’ scale, that surely scores the maximum 10.
But if Clarkson or anyone else was hoping it might help dampen the furore – besides his Amazon Prime stuff, he also presents Millionaire on ITV1 – they were wrong, prompting all the responses the former Top Gear man deserved.
These 21 people surely said it best.
1.
Don’t worry about it mate, we’ve all tripped, fell and accidentally crowbarred in a reference to throwing shit at a naked woman right after saying we hate her more than rose west, easily done
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) December 19, 2022
2.
A clumsy reference?! You demonstrated profound misogyny and essentially incited violence against a woman that you also say you ‘hate at a cellular level’. It’s beyond the limits of acceptability and this isn’t sufficient as an ‘apology’.
— Jennifer Johnston (@jjohnstonmezzo) December 19, 2022
3.
Not even the bottle to apologise properly; what a small man he is. https://t.co/3VnO6hHxcu
— Brian Moore (@brianmoore666) December 19, 2022
4.
Can’t say anything that’s grossly, hate inciting and misogynistic these days, without having to then apologise for fear of loss of future earnings. What is this world coming to? 🙄
— Adrian Warwick (@AdrianWarwick) December 19, 2022
5.
No worries, easily done. Which of us hasn’t salivated in public about hurling excrement at a naked woman when all we meant to do was reference popular TV? https://t.co/h8NB6qHWbz
— Dr Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) December 19, 2022
6.
The Game of Thrones reference was indeed clumsy and anyone who remembers the scene will agree how very upsetting & disturbing it was. Saying you hated her more than a child murderer was the part that was most chilling. No matter what you think of Meghan, she doesn’t deserve that.
— Sam Dowler (@samdowler) December 19, 2022
7.
Bollocks. Pretty sure Rose West wasn’t in Game of Thrones. https://t.co/eoGnKQpctR
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) December 19, 2022
8.
You don’t get to give a pretend apology and walk away from this. You don’t define this narrative anymore.
— Karen Roles (@KarenonUX) December 19, 2022
9.
https://twitter.com/jayrayner1/status/1604845345816682497?s=20&t=hZy49NpBqXKG9v9xnJt0QQ
10.
Oh dear. You forgot to apologize in your apology.
— Gabe Rosenberg (@Gaber205) December 19, 2022
11.
Oops. Silly you. But you forgot to say sorry to Meghan and her family. However you’ve helped proved them 100% right . Just saying. https://t.co/cC4i21HPpY
— Denise Welch (@RealDeniseWelch) December 19, 2022