Amazon Prime Video has reportedly parted ways with Jeremy Clarkson following his hateful Sun column about Meghan Markle which he has since personally apologised for.
According to Variety, the streaming service won’t be working with the TV personality beyond seasons of The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm that have already been commissioned. So, the 62-year-old may not be appearing in any new shows on Prime Video beyond 2024.
Clarkson caused a torrent of outrage with his column stating that he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”, disliked her more than murderer Rose West, and dreamed about her being paraded through the streets and shamed.
Clarkson’s Amazon Prime Video show followed the former Top Gear host as he attempted to run a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds. Farmworker Kaleb Cooper, 24, helped the star keep things running on Diddly Squat farm.
Season two of the series is believed to air on February 10, with series one available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Apology
The news came as Clarkson posted a lengthy apology to Markle over the column, posted and then later removed from the internet in December after it became the most complained about article ever.
In a statement posted on his Instagram account on Monday, Clarkson said he emailed Markle and her husband Prince Harry on Christmas Day to apologise for his language in the column, which he described as “disgraceful.”
He said he was “profoundly sorry”, and that he had written the piece “in a hurry” and just “pressed send.”
“One of the strange things I’ve noticed in recent times is that whenever an MP or a well-known person is asked to apologise for something, no matter how heartfelt or profound that apology may be, it’s never enough for the people who called for it in the first place,” Clarkson wrote.
“So I’m going to try and buck the trend this morning with an apology for the things I said in a Sun column recently about Meghan Markle. I really am sorry. All the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head. This is me putting my hands up. It’s a mea culpa with bells on.
“Usually, I read what I’ve written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry. So when I’d finished, I just pressed send. And then, when the column appeared the next day, the land mine exploded.”
Slow rumble
Speaking about the day after the column was published, Clarkson continued: “It was a slow rumble to start with and I ignored it. But then the rumble got louder. So I picked up a copy of The Sun to see what all the fuss was about.
“We’ve all been there, I guess. In that precise moment when we suddenly realise we’ve completely messed up. You are sweaty and cold at the same time. And your head pounds. And you feel sick. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Had I really said that? It was horrible.
“I knew what had happened straight away. I’d been thinking of a scene in Games Of Thrones, but I’d forgotten to mention this. So it looked like I was actually calling for revolting violence to rain down on Meghan’s head.”
Clarkson went on to say he was “very angry with myself” because despite all of the Top Gear controversies over the years, they had never been accused of sexism and prided themselves on this.
He continued: “We never did ‘women can’t park’ gags for instance. Or suggested that powerful cars were only for men. And I was thrilled when Jodie Kidd and Ellen MacArthur set fastest-ever laps in our reasonably-priced car. I’m just not sexist and I abhor violence against women. And yet I seemed to be advocating just that.”
“I was mortified and so was everyone else. My phone went mad. Very close friends were furious. Even my own daughter took to Instagram to denounce me.”
Clarkson said he was “mortified” but what he had written and apologised to everyone he knew, before emailing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Christmas morning.
He told them that the language he had used was “disgraceful” and that he was “profoundly sorry”, but added that he was “baffled” by what the couple had “been saying on TV.”
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