Jeremy Clarkson has branded climate campaigner Greta Thunberg a ‘spoilt brat’ after she spoke in front of the United Nations earlier this week.
During her impassioned speech about climate change, the 16-year-old accused world leaders of ruining her childhood by forcing her to take on the responsibility of saving the planet, which didn’t go down well with the TV presenter.
In his column in The Sun, the Grand Tour host suggested Greta needs to think about everything that adults have done for her.
“How dare you sail to America on a carbon fibre yacht that you didn’t build which cost £15million, that you didn’t earn, and which has a back-up diesel engine that you didn’t mention,” he writes.
“Pause for a moment to consider how soundly you sleep at night, knowing that adults are building and servicing and flying Sweden’s fighter planes to keep you safe.
“We gave you mobile phones and laptops and the internet. We created the social media you use every day and we run the banks that pay for it all.
“So how dare you stand there and lecture us, you spoilt brat.”
Clarkson goes on to acknowledge that the planet is heating up and something needs to be done before we are all faced with an “unimaginable refugee crisis” but suggests Greta should perhaps “get back to school as quickly as possible and work hard in your science lectures”.
He adds: “Science is what will solve the problem eventually. Not scowling and having screaming ab-dabs every five minutes.
“Many thousands of people who you had the temerity to blame this week are trying to do exactly what you want.
“So be a good girl, shut up and let them get on with it.”
Following his comments, Clarkson’s daughter Emily took to Twitter to make her feelings known.
Referring to a tweet by comedian John Bishop in which he praised Greta for being an inspiration and “breathing life” into the debate surrounding climate change, Emily wrote: “Wouldn’t it be nice if all middle aged blokes could talk to and about Greta, the ballsy af teenager out there changing the world, like this.”
Meanwhile, Greta is currently in Canada to march against climate change as part of the second wave of global protests.
She told the rally: “He (Justin Trudeau) is of course obviously not doing enough, but this is just a huge problem, this is a system that is wrong.
“My message to all the politicians is the same: Just listen and act on the science.”
She also took an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump saying she didn’t understand why adults would “choose to mock children and teenagers for communicating and acting on the science when they could do something good instead”.