Jeremy Clarkson news: Ex-Top Gear host avoids police probe over The Sun Meghan Markle article

Column received record number of Ipso complaints as politicians demand answers from The Sun

Harry and Meghan Volume II trailer

Jeremy Clarkson will remain the host on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? “at the moment”, ITV boss Kevin Lygo has confirmed.

Lygo criticised the 62-year-old presenter’s comments about Meghan Markle, describing his tirade as “awful”.

In an op-ed published by The Sun on Friday (16 December), Clarkson wrote that he dreamt of the day Markle would be made to parade naked through Britain while the crowd chanted “shame” and threw “excrement” at her.

Clarkson claimed that “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way”.

The Sun has now removed Clarkson’s comment piece from its website. “In light of Jeremy Clarkson’s tweet he has asked us to take last week’s column down,” the page now reads.

More than 60 cross-party MPs have written to The Sun’s editor to demand an apology and “action taken” against Clarkson. The SNP’s shadow culture minister also called for Clarkson to be banned from TV altogether.

Ipso confirmed on Tuesday 20 December that it had received over 17,500 complaints about the presenter’s column, more than the total it received in 2021.

Key points

• ITV boss says Clarkson to remain Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host 'for the moment'
• What Clarkson said
• More than 60 MPs complain to The Sun editor
• Jeremy Clarkson’s Meghan Markle column breaks Ipso complaints record

[22 December 2022 00:16 · Tom Murray]

This isn’t the first time Clarkson has made disparaging comments about Markle

While many people are rightly shocked by Clarkson’s comments in The Sun, it’s far from the first thing the former Top Gear presenter has said about the duchess.

Below, The Independent has collated seven occasions where the TV personality has made digs at Markle.

[22 December 2022 01:31 · Tom Murray]

Clarkson says he’s ‘horrified to have caused so much hurt'

A reminder of Clarkson’s response to the row caused by his column in The Sun.

It wasn’t an apology as such, but Clarkson said he was “horrified to have caused so much hurt”.

“Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it,” he wrote on Twitter. “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.”

[22 December 2022 02:59 · Tom Murray]

Duke and Duchess of Sussex yet to comment

Neither the Duke and Duchess of Sussex nor the royal family have commented on Clarkson’s statements yet.

However, amidst the row, Harry and Meghan did announce a charitable Christmas gesture.

A photograph of a pile of presents was shared to the Archewell Foundation’s website on Tuesday (20 December), alongside the news that the couple had “organised gifts for more than 30 different reunified and refugee families” at the US and Mexico border.

[22 December 2022 04:00 · Peony Hirwani]

SNP politician John Nicolson has shared some of the abusive messages he’s received over the past day after calling for ITV to get rid of Clarkson.

He’s not the only person to have reportedly suffered online abuse over the subject – Carol Vorderman said she received “a lot of abuse” after criticising the ex-Top Gear host.

[22 December 2022 05:00 · Peony Hirwani]

The boss of ITV confirmed that Clarkson would not be removed from his post as presenter of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

He did, however, condemn Clarkson’s article in strong terms.

[22 December 2022 06:41 · Peony Hirwani]

Jeremy Clarkson should be banned from TV after ‘grotesque’ Meghan Markle comments, MP says

An MP has written to ITV ‘s chief executive demanding that Jeremy Clarkson be taken off air completely, following his controversial remarks about the Duchess of Sussex.

John Nicolson, SNP shadow culture secretary and MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, shared a letter addressed to Dame Carolyn Julia McCall, who has been chief executive of ITV since 2018, on Twitter.

MP John Nicolson wrote on Twitter: “Following grotesque comments made about the First Minster and The Duchess of Sussex, I do not believe Jeremy Clarkson should be allowed back on our screens. I’ve written to the Chief Executive of ITV.”

[22 December 2022 07:42 · Peony Hirwani]

Piers Morgan weighs in on Jeremy Clarkson’s Meghan Markle column

Piers Morgan has commented on Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial rant about Meghan Markle in a national newspaper.

In an op-ed for The Sun, published 16 December, Clarkson wrote that he loathes the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level” and wants people to “throw lumps of excrement” at her.

The article has since been removed from the publication’s website after the column became the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s most complained about article.

[22 December 2022 08:42 · Peony Hirwani]

A petitioner is raising funds on GoFundMe to ‘bring legal action against Jeremy Clarkson and The Sun’

A petitioner named Dr Louise Raw is organising a GoFundMe fundraiser to “bring legal action against Jeremy Clarkson and The Sun.”

“We are not hopeful that Ipso will hold the press accountable for spreading hate,” the petition description reads. “The Ipso Chairman is known to be close to Rupert Murdoch. We have therefore resorted to crowdfunding for legal action to be taken against Jeremy Clarkson and The Sun, and its editor Victoria Newton.

“Although the legal route is expensive, I have received a lot of support already and have a team of lawyers who have agreed to review the case.

“All proceeds will exclusively go towards bringing a legal case against Jeremy Clarkson and/or The Sun and its editor Victoria Newton. Any excess funds will be donated to a domestic violence charity,” the petition says.

So far, Dr Raw’s fundraiser has raised a little over £11,000.

[22 December 2022 09:42 · Peony Hirwani]

This isn’t the first time Clarkson has made disparaging comments about Markle

While many people are rightly shocked by Clarkson’s comments in The Sun, it’s far from the first thing the former Top Gear presenter has said about the duchess.

Below, The Independent has collated seven occasions where the TV personality has made digs at Markle.

[22 December 2022 10:42 · Peony Hirwani]

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are yet to issue a statement about Jeremy Clarkson’s The Sun article.