Harry and Meghan reject Jeremy Clarkson’s apology
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have shot down Jeremy Clarkson’s apology following his scathing piece about them in The Sun at the close of 2022.
The Top Gear star wrote the piece in the wake of the release of the couple’s Netflix documentary series, in which he explained how much he “hates” the Duchess of Sussex.
The article, which was the most complained about and was removed from the website, saw Clarkson apologise for his words.
It has now been revealed that the Sussexes have rejected Clarkson’s grovelling apology after it came out that Clarkson’s Farm and The Grand Tour series may be dropped by Amazon Prime.
“On December 25, 2022, Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex,” read a response from the Sussexes’ representatives.
“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.”
Clarkson has now taken to Instagram to publicly apologise to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and to explain why he wrote such a piece.
“I really am sorry. All the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head. This is me putting my hands up. It’s a mea culpa with bells on,” his apology read.
“Usually, I read what I’ve written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry. So when I’d finished, I just pressed send. And then, when the column appeared the next day, the land mine exploded.
“It was a slow rumble to start with and I ignored it. But then the rumble got louder. So I picked up a copy of The Sun to see what all the fuss was about.
“We’ve all been there, I guess. In that precise moment when we suddenly realise we’ve completely messed up.
“You’re sweaty and cold at the same time. And your head pounds. And you feel sick.
“I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Had I really said that? It was horrible.”
Clarkson then went on to attempt to justify his reasoning for the article in which he claims he was thinking of an episode of Game of Thrones while writing the piece.
“I was very angry with myself because in all those controversial days on Top Gear, when I was accused of all sorts of things, it was very rarely sexism.”
He mentioned a few instances during Top Gear in which women drove faster laps than men, or the fact that there was never a segment about women not being able to park.
Clarkson insisted that he wasn’t sexist, but went on to say: “I’m just not sexist and I abhor violence against women. And yet I seemed to be advocating just that. I was mortified and so was everyone else. My phone went mad. Very close friends were furious. Even my own daughter took to Instagram to denounce me.
“The Sun quickly apologised, and I tried to explain myself. But still, there were calls for me to be sacked and charged with a hate crime.”
“More than 60 MPs demanded action to be taken.
“ITV, who make Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and Amazon, who make the Farm Show and the Grand Tour, were incandescent.
“I therefore wrote to everyone who works with me saying how sorry I was and then on Christmas morning, I emailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologise to them too.
“I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I’d used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry.
“Over the last thirty years, I have written very nearly five thousand newspaper and magazine columns, so it was inevitable that one day, I’d do a Harry Kane and sky one of the damn things. Which is what happened with the piece about Meghan.
“So can I move on now? Not sure. It’s hard to be interesting and vigilant at the same time. You never hear pearls of laughter coming from a health and safety seminar. But I promise you this, I will try.
“Who knows? Very soon now I shall be a grandfather so in future, maybe I’ll just write about that.”
Images: Netflix / Wikipedia