Amazon Prime Video is “likely” to be parting ways with the veteran television presenter, Jeremy Clarkson, following the most recent comments he made about Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, via his regular column in The Sun this past December – which provoked a record 25,000+ complaints to the British press regulator.
Multiple sources have told Variety the streaming platform will not continue working with Clarkson beyond the seasons of The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm that have already been commissioned slash currently in production. And in light of the fact a virtual press conference for the latter initially scheduled for this week has just been called off, it would appear they’re very serious about axing the Top Gear alum.
“Amazon Prime Video already has a number of shows in the works with Jeremy Clarkson, which are going to go ahead, but the decision effectively means that Clarkson’s Farm will end with season 3 (expected in 2024),” explains the US-based entertainment publication.
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“It also means that motoring format The Grand Tour, one of Prime Video’s biggest shows, will also come to an end. Variety understands the series will conclude after four more special episodes — the last of which is expected to land in late 2024.”
“Although the streamer didn’t make any public comment when Clarkson’s vitriolic column made international headlines in December, it’s clear the company was deeply unhappy behind the scenes. In a fresh apology made by Clarkson on Monday, he says the streamer was ‘incandescent’ about his tirade against Markle and Prince Harry.”
In his since-deleted column, Clarkson expressed how he was “dreaming of the day” when Meghan Markle is made to “parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while crowds chant, ‘Shame!’” and lumps of excrement were thrown at her direction — a reference to Game of Thrones. Prior to this, the man had a well-documented history of demonizing Markle as well as Prince Harry.
“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,” Jeremy Clarkson noted in his public apology.
“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.”
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Clarkson also revealed he personally emailed Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on Christmas morning to apologise: “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.”
A spokesperson representing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex issued a statement in response to the ongoing development:
On Dec. 25, 2022, Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. The contents of his correspondence were marked Private and Confidential. While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, 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.
More to come.
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