‘Top Gear’ host Jeremy Clarkson under fire for Meghan Markle hate article

In one article published in The Sun, Jeremy Clarkson was accused of assaulting Meghan Markle.

The “Top Gear” host and media personality has come under fire for an article he wrote in which he expressed hatred for the Duchess of Sussex. According to the BBC, over 6,000 complaints about the controversial article have been filed with the press regulator Ipso. The article was removed from The Sun’s website on Monday with the message:

“In light of Jeremy Clarkson’s tweet, he has asked us to take last week’s column down.”

A screenshot of Clarkson’s tweet was also included on the page.

His tweet read:

“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.”

Clarkson may be referring to “Game of Thrones” Season 5, Episode 10, in which Cersei (Lena Headey) was sentenced to the walk of shame or walk of atonement for a variety of crimes, including adultery with her twin brother, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). She stripped naked while walking through the crowd, which was yelling “Shame! Shame!” and throwing excrement at her.

Despite the fact that the post had already been removed from the website, some netizens were able to obtain screenshots of a portion of the article from printed copies.

Clarkson wrote:

“Meghan, though, is a different story. I hate her. 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.”

Vanessa Brown, a netizen, even started a petition opposing Clarkson’s article. As of press time, the petition had received over 11,000 signatures.

Part of the petition read:

“Hate speech covers many forms of expressions which advocate, incite, promote or justify hatred, violence and discrimination against a person or group of persons for a variety of reasons.”

Brown claimed in the petition that if left unaddressed, it poses a grave danger and can lead to violence and conflict.

Brown continued:

“In this sense, hate speech is an extreme form of intolerance which contributes to hate crime. They have to be held accountable for language like this. I am victim of rape and online abuse, and this was incredibly disturbing.”