Jeremy Clarkson finally issued a public apology for the widely-condemned column attacking Meghan Markle, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have already issued their response. To put it simply, they don’t appear very impressed.
In December, The Sun published a since-delete column detailing Clarkson’s “cellular” hatred of the Duchess of Sussex, including a vivid fantasy of her being paraded “naked through the streets of every town in Britain” while onlookers “throw lumps of excrement at her.” In response to the initial backlash, Clarkson tweeted, “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.” Unlike The Sun, he didn’t actually utter the word “sorry” in his statement.
While the royal family has kept quiet about the column, Prince Harry has not. Per BBC News, the duke described Clarkson’s words as “horrific and hurtful and cruel.”
A month later, on January 16, Clarkson finally posted a public apology to his Instagram, which he called a “mea culpa with bells on.” Clarkson’s explanation for the column, per his statement, was that it was written “in a hurry” and without the help of a second opinion. Clarkson also reiterated that he was only referencing a Game of Thrones scene, writing, “I abhor violence against women.”
“I therefore 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 apologise to them too,” he continued. “I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry.” You can read the entire statement here:
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