Jeremy Clarkson has come under fire for controversial remarks he has made about Covid.
The former Top Gear presenter called for society to learn to live with the virus, saying: “If you die, you die.”
Clarkson also branded Sage scientists “communists” in the interview with Radio Times.
He said: “When it started, I read up on pandemics and they tend to be four years long.
“I think the politicians should sometimes tell those communists at SAGE to get back in their box.”
Clarkson continued: “Let’s just all go through life with our fingers crossed and a smile on our face.
“I can see Boris doesn’t want to open it up and shut us back down again. But if it’s going to be four years… and who knows, it could be 40 years.
“Well, if it’s going to be for ever, let’s open it up and if you die, you die,” he added.
Clarkson’s comments were met with criticism online:
Clarkson previously contracted Covid over the festive period, describing the experience as “scary”.
Writing in his Sunday Times column, he says: “Four days before Christmas, I woke in the night to find my sheets were soggy. And that I had a constant dry cough.”
“I took myself off to bed with the new Don Winslow book and a bag of kale to wait for the Grim Reaper to pop his head round the door.
“I’m not going to lie — it was quite scary,” he said. “With every illness I’ve had, there has always been a sense that medicine and time would eventually ride to the rescue.
“But with Covid-19 you have to lie there, on your own, knowing that medicine is not on its way and that time is your worst enemy.”
While he “didn’t feel too bad” initially, Clarkson’s “breathing really did start to get laboured, and there was always the doctor’s warning ringing in my head about how it might suddenly get worse”.
Clarkson also criticised the BBC’s coverage of the pandemic, saying it was “doom, with added gloom”.