Amazon ‘likely’ to axe Clarkson over Meghan
Jeremy Clarkson is “likely” to be dropped by Amazon after he admitted that the streaming service was “incandescent” over his column inciting violence against the Duchess of Sussex. The former Top Gear host faced a public backlash after writing in The Sun last month that he loathed Meghan “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”.
‘What remains to be addressed is his longstanding pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric... and misogyny’
JEREMY CLARKSON is “likely” to be dropped by Amazon, it emerged yesterday, after he admitted that the streaming service was “incandescent” over his newspaper column about the Duchess of Sussex.
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 the industry website Variety. “This means that the notorious 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.
ITV has indicated it may take similar action 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... ITV [is] making it clear that their position is similar,” Rachel Younger, an ITV News correspondent, said in a report on the issue.
It is understood that one further series of the quiz show has been commissioned, but there are no plans beyond that. Kevin Lygo, the managing director of ITV Studios, last month described Clarkson’s comments about Meghan as “awful” but said then that he would remain as host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
It came as Clarkson revealed he had emailed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to apologise for his “disgraceful” column. On his Instagram, Clarkson suggested 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 and Amazon were “incandescent” over the column. 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 he 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 Thrones. As such, Clarkson 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 he claimed it was hard to be both at the same time. “So can I move on now?” he added. “Not sure.”
The Duke and Duchess last night revealed that Clarkson had apologised “solely” to Prince Harry.
A spokesman for the couple said: “On Dec 25 Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry. 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.”
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 Oprah Winfrey, the American chat show host, in an interview that month.
Dame Carolyn said she “completely believed what [the Duchess] says”, adding that ITV was “totally committed to” mental health.
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 Prince Harry 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”.