‘Clumsy’ doesn’t cut it – Jeremy Clarkson should be fired for his hate speech against Meghan

Jeremy Clarkson eventually addressed the backlash but it wasn’t enough (Picture: Getty Images)

If Jeremy Clarkson thought his non-apology would be enough to pacify his critics, he was wrong. It has only made it worse. 

When I first saw his truly disturbing comments about Meghan Markle, I genuinely didn’t think they were real. They were such outrageous statements that I wondered if Clarkson had been misquoted or his words taken out of context. 

Stupidly, I actually tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

But no, they were his own vitriolic sentiments and they were actually published for the world to see. 

In his column for The Sun, the former Top Gear presenter wrote in vivid detail how he struggled to sleep at night because he was ‘dreaming’ of a naked Meghan, 41, being ‘paraded’ through the streets of Britain while crowds chant ‘shame’ and ‘throw lumps of excrement at her’. 

That despicable column was published on Friday and it took him until Monday afternoon to even address it – that was, of course, after he enjoyed watching and tweeting about the World Cup final on Sunday. 

When he finally did release a statement, Clarkson, 62, flippantly described the publication of his words as a ‘clumsy’ move – it was anything but that. 

Harry and Meghan were the subject of his vitriol (Picture: Rex Features) Meghan tearfully explained the impact of the death threats on her mental health (Picture: Netflix) Clarkson’s series Clarkson’s Farm airs on Amazon Prime Video but it should be axed (Picture: Rex Features)

Clarkson said he was ‘horrified to have caused so much hurt’ with his words.

He can’t be anywhere near as horrified as those of us who read what he’d written; the shocking level of hate he apparently has for the Duchess of Sussex, who has literally just been seen crying over death threats she’s received from strangers in her Netflix documentary with husband Prince Harry. 

One heartbreaking scene in Harry & Meghan shows the former Suits actress tearing up while recalling how she has had sleepless nights, pacing the floor of her home while concerned over the safety of herself and her family. 

‘I’m a mum. That’s my real life. And that’s the piece when you see it and you go, “You are making people want to kill me. It’s not just a tabloid. It’s not just some story. You are making me scared”,’ she said in the six-part series. 

She added: ‘And you’ve created it for what? Because you’re bored or because it sells your papers or it makes you feel better about your own life? It’s real what you’re doing. And that’s the piece I don’t think people fully understand.’ 

It’s ironic because Clarkson, in a bid to tear her down, has just proven her very point. Words have power and what if someone, who is heavily influenced by what celebrities say, attempts to act on such words? 

Meghan has memorably discussed how she experienced suicidal thoughts while working as a senior member of the Royal family, and she has also been open about the miscarriage she suffered due to the extreme levels of abuse she is relentlessly subjected to. 

Why would anyone want to pile even more pain on top of that? 

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In a dream world, Meghan wouldn’t have seen Clarkson’s comments but that’s unlikely given the documentary showed she was very aware of what was being said about her on the internet. 

As a spectator, it’s gruelling to watch her be consistently torn apart by prominent men with powerful platforms, primarily middle-aged white men like Clarkson and Piers Morgan. For many Black and brown people, it can be seriously traumatic to watch another woman of colour vulnerable and exposed to so much abuse. 

When the level of vitriol is as severe as Clarkson’s was in his column, then he shouldn’t get to have a platform. 

What he said about Meghan was hate speech – quite literally, he used the word ‘hate’ – and it doesn’t make it any less damaging because it’s directed at one person as opposed to a whole community. 

It’s encouraging to see so many people speak out against Clarkson in this instance and show support for Meghan, but we shouldn’t be in a place where one can spout such vile rhetoric without even fearing any consequence. 

More: Prince Harry

Clarkson needs to be held to account and his statement isn’t cutting it.

ITV, on which he hosts Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and Amazon Prime Video, which airs The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm, and any other company that employs him should seriously consider whether they want a public figure, who can so easily encourage hate against women, to represent their brands. 

They now have the power to send a strong message to Meghan and their viewers about what they stand for and who they are standing with. 

An unjustifiably hated woman or their money-maker.

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