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Jeremy Clarkson to part ways with Amazon; Harry and Meghan react to his apology – Deadline

January 16, 2023

UPDATE, 12:25 p.m.: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle today responded to Jeremy Clarkson’s final apology for his recent column in The sun in which he says he “hates” the Duchess of Sussex.

In a tweet via a spokesperson, the couple wrote: “While a new apology was issued today by Mr. Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his longstanding pattern of writing articles that spread hateful 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 hastily shared, but rather a a series of articles shared in hate.

Read more details below.

PREVIOUSLY, 07:22: Jeremy Clarkson will likely not be doing any more shows for Prime Video when his current commissioned seasons come to an end.

Deadline includes Clarkson, who makes The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm for the streamer, will not sign another deal with Amazon Studios. New seasons that have already been ordered will continue, but it likely won’t be on Prime Video shows after 2024.

The presenter recently came under fire for a column he wrote in the The sun diary in which he wrote that he “hated” Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. He also referred to a scene from game of thronesin which Cersei Lannister is forced to strip naked and go on a “walk of shame”, suggesting that Markle should suffer the same humiliation.

“At night I am unable to sleep as I lie there gritting my teeth and dreaming of the day when she will be forced to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and throw pieces of excrement at him,” he wrote.

An Amazon representative declined to respond to Today’s News and said, “We have no further comments and nothing to add.”

When Amazon was asked if it could continue working with Clarkson after the December column, there was no official response, but sources said key staff were extremely unhappy.

Sources close to Amazon told Deadline that plans to end the partnership with Clarkson have been in the works for some time.

Today he wrote a ‘mea culpa’ apology on Instagram, in which he revealed he emailed Markle and Prince Harry after the column to apologize at length.

“I’m so sorry,” he wrote in a lengthy post. “All the way from the soles of my feet to the follicles of my head. It’s me raising my hands. It’s a mea culpa with bells.

He noted that The Sun had “promptly apologized” for the piece, which was pulled from the internet, and that he had tried to explain himself. “But still, there were calls for me to be fired and charged with a hate crime. Over 60 MPs called for action. ITV, which manufactures Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Amazon, which do the agricultural show and The Grand Tourwere incandescent.

“So I wrote everyone who works with me to say how sorry I was, and then on Christmas morning I emailed Harry and Meghan in California apologizing as well. J I was taken aback by what they had said on TV, but the language I used in my column was shameful and I was deeply sorry.

He claimed he sent the article to The Sun in a hurry without checking it with another person, and that he felt “sick” once he read the article and realized its impact. “I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Did I really say that? It’s horrible,” he wrote.

“I knew immediately what had happened. I had thought of a scene in game of thrones, but I forgot to mention it. So it seemed like I was actually asking for revolting violence to rain down on Meghan’s head.

He added: “I’m just not sexist and I abhor violence against women. And yet, I seemed to be advocating just that.

Variety was first with history.