Sussexes hit back at Jeremy Clarkson’s apology, say he ‘wrote solely to prince’

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan, have refuted claims by UK TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson that he apologised to both of them over his controversial newspaper column.

Clarkson came under fire in December after he wrote in a British national newspaper column that he hoped the duchess would one day be forced to parade naked through the streets.

Clarkson, who gained worldwide fame as presenter of the motoring show Top Gear, wrote in the Sun tabloid in December that he hated Meghan on a “cellular level”, earning widespread condemnation from politicians, his employers, and even his own daughter.

Clarkson's opinion piece on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex became the most complained about article for Britain's press standards regulator, with more than 20,000 complaints received.

Clarkson issued an initial statement just days after the column was published, saying he was “horrified to have caused so much hurt” but stopping short of an apology. 

He again issued a lengthier statement on Monday, apologising for the comments and explaining the sequence of events.

“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.

“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 landmine exploded. 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 Game 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 denied he was “sexist”, insisting he abhorred “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.

“The Sun quickly apologised, and I tried to explain myself. But still, there were calls for me to be sacked and charged with a hate crime ... 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. I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I'd used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry,” he said. 

The couple hit back at Clarkson's apology, clarifying that the TV presenter wrote solely to the duke and that the contents of the email were marked “private and confidential”.

A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan said while there had been an apology, “what remains to be addressed is his long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny”.

“Unless each of his other pieces were also written 'in a hurry', as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate,” the couple said.

Harry earlier told broadcaster ITV that Clarkson's comments were not only horrific and hurtful, but that they would encourage people around the world to think it was acceptable to “treat women that way”.