James May breaks silence over Jeremy Clarkson’s Meghan Markle column
Clarkson’s longtime co-presenter also said ‘The Grand Tour’ is not ‘under threat’ because of recent scandal
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Your support makes all the difference.James May has suggested that Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous column about Meghan Markle was “a little too creepy”.
Back in December, Clarkson faced widespread condemnation after The Sun published an article in which he fantasised about the duchess of Sussex being paraded through the streets naked and pelted with excrement.
In the column, published on 16 December, the 62-year-old ex-Top Gear host wrote that he hated the duchess on a “cellular level”.
Reports subsequently claimed that Amazon was looking to “cut ties” with Clarkson, and would not be commissioning any further projects from him beyond those which had already been agreed upon.
On Monday (30 January), May was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I don’t think The Grand Tour is under [threat],” May said.
“To be brutally honest I didn’t read the thing [Clarkson’s column] because I was away – is that a terrible thing to say?” he continued.
Host Martha Kearney then proceeded to read May quotes from Clarkson’s article, and asked whether he would condemn the op-ed.
“He said something like, ‘All people my age think the same way.’ I’d like to go on the record and say I don’t – I’m only a couple of years younger than him,” May said.
“I think it sounds a little bit too creepy, but I’m also very much in favour of free speech and allowing the haters to hate so we can see what they have to say.”
Earlier this month, Clarkson said that he had apologised to the duke and duchess of Sussex over the article.
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However, Harry and Meghan then issued a statement claiming that Clarkson had in fact apologised soley to the duke.
A spokesperson for the royal couple also claimed that Clarkson’s apology failed to address “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,” the statement added.