TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson said he emailed Prince Harry and Meghan to apologize for his column in The Sun newspaper, in which he said he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex.
In her column, which was published in December, she said she was “dreaming of the day when she is paraded naked through the streets of every town in Britain while people sing: ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at him.”
The comments sparked a backlash, with Clarkson’s daughter Emily and many others speaking out against him.
The column became the most complained about ever and was removed from The Sun’s website at Clarkson’s request, with the editor also apologizing.
After the backlash, Clarkson wrote: “Oh dear. I’ve just put my foot down. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene from Game of Thrones and that went down with a many people. I am horrified that I have caused so much harm and will be more careful in the future.”
His comments came after the premiere of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary, in which they discussed their separation from the royal family and their relationship with the monarchy.
In his final statement, he said: “It was a slow noise to start with, and I ignored it. But then the noise got louder. So I picked up a copy of The Sun to see what all the fuss was about. commotion
“We’ve all been there, I guess. That precise moment when we suddenly realize we’ve been completely wrong. You’re sweaty and cold at the same time. And your head is pounding. And you feel sick. I couldn’t believe what I was reading .had he really said that? It was awful.
“I knew what had happened immediately. I had been thinking of a scene from Game of Thrones, but I had forgotten to mention it. So it seemed that I was actually asking for revolting violence to rain down on Meghan’s head .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.
“We never did ‘women can’t park’ gags, for example. Or suggested that powerful cars were only for men. And I was thrilled when Jodie Kidd and Ellen MacArthur did the fastest laps ever in our car at a reasonable price.it’s just not sexist and I abhor violence against women and yet he seemed to be advocating for exactly that.
“I was mortified and so was everyone else. My phone went crazy. Very close friends were furious. Even my own daughter took to Instagram to report me.”
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0:44 ‘We don’t like it’: Meghan being called a ‘small body’
‘The land mine exploded’
He went on to add: “I’m so sorry. From the tips of my feet to the follicles on my head. That’s me holding my hands up. It’s a mea culpa with bells.
“I usually read what I’ve written to someone else before I submit it, but that fateful day I was home alone and in a hurry. So when I finished, I just hit send. And then when the column came up the next day, the land mine exploded.
“So I 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 apologize as well. I told them I was bewildered by what they had said on TV.but that the language I had used in my column was disgraceful and that I was deeply sorry for it.
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“Over the last 30 years, I’ve written almost 5,000 newspaper and magazine columns, so it was inevitable that one day I’d do a Harry Kane and Sky one of the damn things. That’s what happened with the Meghan piece .”
Harry and Meghan have yet to respond to Clarkson’s latest apology, but did reject the one offered by The Sun, describing it as “nothing more than a PR stunt”.