Jeremy Clarkson ‘horrified’ to have sparked outrage after penning ‘utterly vile’ column about Meghan Markle

Jeremy Clarkson has responded to backlash from the public and several celebrities following a hateful tirade about Meghan Markle.

The TV presenter, 62, from Doncaster, took to Twitter after sparking rage with an op-ed for The Sun, in which he wrote that he despises the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level” and wishes to see people “throw lumps of excrement” at her.

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

Clarkson finished by saying that “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way.”

His comments have been met with criticism from famous people across the media, including his own daughter, Emily.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said it had received more than 6,000 complaints over the article – almost half the total number of complaints the media regulator received in 2021.

Writing on Twitter on Monday, Clarkson wrote: “Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it.

“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.”

The tweet has received over 12,000 comments and almost 30,000 likes, following outrage from his daughter and several celebrities.

On Sunday, Clarkson’s daughter Emily said: “I want to make it very clear that I stand against everything my dad wrote about Meghan Markle.”

Former Countdown star Carol Vorderman, 61, condemned Clarkson for his attack on the Duchess of Sussex and shut down his claim that people his age think the same.

Sharing the newspaper clipping of the column, she wrote on Twitter: “NO Jeremy Clarkson. Not on any level, in any circumstance, is it ok to write this stuff about any woman.

“And absolutely NO to ‘everyone who’s my age thinks the same’. No, no, no. We absolutely do NOT think the same. Listen to the noise Jeremy. The crowds are chanting “shame on YOU”.’

Comedian Bishop also took to the social media platform to voice his disgust: £WTF is this ?? I don’t care who you are or who you work for; you simply can not write things like this.

“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.”

Fellow comic Dom Joly said: “Literally gobsmacked at the utterly vile and disgusting comments written about Meghan Markle by Jeremy Clarkson in the Sun. What an utter piece of trash he is... what is it with these types of men that triggers them so?”

Radio DJ Edith Bowman said that Clarkson was a “vile misogynist,” whilst Kathy Burke labelled him a “colossal c**t.”

His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman also slammed Clarkson, calling him “a bad smell”.

Alesha Dixon was praised on ITV This Morning after she declared Jeremy Clarkson “needed to be muzzled”.