What is Jeremy Clarkson’s most controversial moment? As he responds to outrage over Meghan Markle column

The backlash surrounding Jeremy Clarkson’s article about Meghan Markle isn’t the first time that he has landed himself in hot water due to his unfiltered approach to life.

The former Top Gear host, 62, from Doncaster, is best known for hosting the motoring shows, BBC’s Top Gear and Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour. After presenting Top Gear for 23 years, he was fired from the BBC show and became a host on ITV for their revived game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

However, Jeremy’s opinionated writing and presenting style has often provoked a public reaction, with criticism from the media, politicians and the public.

So, what is Jeremy Clarkson’s most controversial headline to date?

2004: Jeremy punches the then Daily Mirror Editor, Piers Morgan

In 2004, Clarkson was attending the British Press Awards alongside the then editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan.

At the event, according to eyewitnesses, Clarkson approached Morgan and said: “now that you’re in my world of telly, I can tell you you’re cr*p.”

He then punched Morgan several times, and this feud has continued publicly for years as they are also known for their petty exchanges over social media.

Earlier this year, in his Sunday Times Column, Clarkson drew comparisons on Will Smith’s attack on Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars ceremony, which saw Smith jump to defend his wife after Rock joked about her alopecia. Clarkson recalled the night he punched Piers Morgan admitting it was in defence of his wife’s honour.

He said: "At the 2004 British Press Awards I ran into Piers Morgan, who said something unkind about my wife. So, even though I was calm and sober, having just come from a recording of Call My Bluff, I hit him.”

2005: Jeremy gives a Nazi salute on an episode of Top Gear

During a 2005 episode of Top Gear, the team were discussing a German BMW Mini and Clarkson made a series of Nazi references. He proceeded to raise his arm in a Hitler-style salute and also mocked the invasion that triggered Word War II. He made comments saying that German cars would have a GPS “that only goes to Poland.”

Following the episode, the BBC received many complaints and the BBC Governors’ Programme Complaints Committee responded, by saying “Jeremy Clarkson was just using outrageous behaviour to amuse his audience, and that the remarks would not have led to anyone entertaining new or different feelings or concerns about Germans or Germany.”

2008: Jeremy makes an offensive joke about lorry drivers on an episode of Top Gear

During a 2008 episode, Jeremy Clarkson sparked a row while driving a lorry and speaking to his fellow Top Gear presenters, saying: "What matters to lorry drivers? Murdering prostitutes? Fuel economy?"

He added: "This is a hard job [driving a lorry] and I’m not just saying this to win favour with lorry drivers: change gear; change gear; change gear; check your mirrors; murder a prostitute."

The episode received more than 500 complaints and calls for Clarkson to lose his job, however the presenter gave a mock apology and his controversial comments were cleared by Ofcom.

2009: Jeremy says ‘TV bosses are obsessed with hiring black Muslim lesbians’

Clarkson candidly spoke to Top Gear Magazine, where he slammed TV bosses for allegedly obsessing over having "black Muslim lesbians" on TV shows, as a way to balance the white hetrosexual men.

Clarkson said: “The problem is that television executives have got it into their heads that if one presenter on a show is a blond-haired, blue-eyed heterosexual boy, the other must be a black Muslim lesbian. Chalk and cheese, they reckon, works.”

“But here we have Top Gear setting new records after six years using cheese and cheese. It confuses them,” the presenter added.

Clarkson’s comments were in response to the Strictly Come Dancing race row that enfolded at the time, in reference to Anton Du Beke’s “slip up” of referring to celebrity dance partner Laila Rouass, with a racial slur.

2014: Jeremy ‘uses the N-word’ in a nursery rhyme - in leaked footage

In a 2014 episode of Top Gear, Clarkson was given the task of choosing between two cars, and to make the decision, he used the nursery rhyme “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe.”

In resurfaced footage not broadcast on the show, Clarkson can be seen using the N-word when reciting the nursery rhyme. The Mirror released the footage to their readers, and it caused so much shock and controversy that Clarkson posted a grovelling apology, saying "I was mortified by this, horrified. It is a word I loathe and I did everything in my power to make sure that version did not appear in the programme that was transmitted."

Clarkson later wrote in The Sun: “I’ve been told by the BBC, that if I make one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time, I will be sacked.”

2015: Jeremy punches a Top Gear Producer and loses job

Jeremy Clarkson lost his job as host of Top Gear after punching the show’s producer, Oisin Tymon, who needed hospital treatment for his injuries. It emerged that Clarkson had been involved in a dispute over catering while filming on location in North Yorkshire.

The hotel chef had gone home so he couldn’t have the steak that he wanted, and instead was offered soup and a cold meat platter.

Clarkson then got into a heated argument with Oisin Tymon, over the lack of hot food available after their Top Gear filming. Tymon went on to sue the BBC and Jeremy Clarkson for racial discrimination, as the dispute also involved Clarkson being verbally abusive.

Clarkson’s contract with the BBC expired, and the proposed three-year renewal was withdrawn. After leaving the BBC, he went on to be signed by Amazon Prime to produce a new car series, with his previous co-hosts, James May and Richard Hammond, called The Grand Tour.

2022: Jeremy writes hate-filled column about Meghan Markle

Clarkson most recently sparked outrage for his hateful tirade about Meghan Markle in his article published in The Sun. He has received backlash after writing about how he despises the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level,” and wishes to see people “throw lumps of excrement” at her.

He went on to declare that he hates Meghan more than Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, and the serial killer Rose West.

After the article was published a multitude of celebrities came forward to call him out on his disrespectful hate-filled words. The likes of Carol Vorderman, Dan Walker, and John Bishop all spoke out.

The former Countdown star, 61, tweeted: “NO Jeremy Clarkson. Not on any level, in any circumstance, is it ok to write this stuff about any woman.”

Whilst comedian, John Bishop wrote: “It is a blatant appeal to incite humiliation and violence on a woman. Some have excused it as dark humour. There is no joke here @JeremyClarkson and no excuse.”

Even Jeremy Clarkson’s own daughter, Emily, 28, is publicly against him for his words against Meghan Markle.