Jeremy Clarkson Fired: Why Is The Sun Not Being Held Responsible, Too?
The Grand Tour host, Jeremy Clarkson, has been filling headlines since the release of his extremely controversial column about Meghan Markle before Christmas. It has since been reported this week that the host is facing being dropped by both Prime Video and ITV, yet nothing has come from the publication he actually wrote it for, The Sun.
In the infamous article, Clarkson wrote:
“I hate her [Meghan Markle]. Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level.”
“At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.”
The column was met with a huge amount of backlash against the presenter with members of the public and other celebrities complaining the comments were “misogynistic” and “utterly vile and disgusting”. There was also a large amount of criticism aimed at the editor of The Sun, Victoria Newton, for publishing the column in the first place.
One Twitter user said:
“This is Victoria Newton, editor of @TheSun…that vile, disgusting, hate-filled @JeremyClarkson piece lands on your desk..anyone with any decency or moral compass would have sacked him immediately..she published it, they both should be charged with a hate crime”
Another user commented, blasting Newton:
“The woman who cratered Jeremy Clarkson’s career wasn’t Meghan but Sun Editor Victoria Newton. Had she bothered to read the column – the decision to publish is the Editor’s not the author’s- she might have raised a red flag. Instead she went home. And look what happened…”
Clarkson requested for The Sun to take the column down from the website, however, it received a record-breaking number of complaints during the short time it was live online.
The former Top Gear host has now issued a public apology to his Instagram account and explained that he has written directly to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to apologise. On the same day Clarkson posted this to Instagram, reports emerged that Prime Video may be dropping the host after his contract is up. This would mean that The Grand Tour will have four more specials and Clarkson’s Farm will end after the third season. Prime Video have declined to comment at the moment.
Today, it has been also been rumoured that ITV are also considering ending their contract with the presenter on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ once it expires. Again, ITV have currently declined to comment.
The question this has raised is where The Sun stands with all of this as it was under this organisation that this column was published.
The Sun publicised an apology at the time the column was taken down, passing the blame back to Clarkson stating that “columnists’ opinions are their own”. The statement read:
“Columnists’ opinions are their own, but as a publisher, we realise that with free expression comes responsibility.
“We at the Sun regret the publication of this article and we are sincerely sorry.
“The article has been removed from our website and archives.
“The Sun has a proud history of campaigning, from Help for Heroes to Jabs Army and Who Cares Wins, and over 50 years of working in partnership with charities, our campaigns have helped change Britain for the better.”
The Sun have not made any comments about whether Clarkson will be staying on as a columnist with them. However, if Clarkson’s getting cancelled over the column, then the person or people responsible for publishing the column should surely be cancelled too.
