Jeremy Clarkson has said he has emailed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to apologise over his column in The Sun newspaper in which he said he “hated” Meghan.
The former Top Gear presenter faced a widespread backlash in December when he penned an opinion piece describing how much he “hates” the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”.
The TV star added that he dreams of the day “when [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets” while crowds “throw lumps of excrement at her”.
In the days that followed, the column incited a record-breaking number of complaints to the press regulator Ipso, with The Sun eventually issuing an apology after removing the article from their website, at its author’s request.
In a lengthy statement posted on his verified Instagram account on Monday, the presenter said he emailed the couple on Christmas Day to say his language in the column had been “disgraceful” and he was “profoundly sorry”.
In the statement, Jeremy said: “One of the strange things I’ve noticed in recent times is that whenever an MP or a well-known person is asked to apologise for something, no matter how heartfelt or profound that apology may be, it’s never enough for the people who called for it in the first place.
“So I’m going to try and buck the trend this morning with an apology for the things I said in a Sun column recently about Meghan Markle. I really am sorry. All the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head. This is me putting my hands up. It’s a mea culpa with bells on.
“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.”
The Duke of Sussex brought up the piece of his own accord while discussing “accountability” during Prince Harry: The Interview, which aired earlier this month.
Harry said: “Not only was what he said horrific, and is hurtful and cruel towards my wife, but it also encourages other people around the UK, and around the world – men particularly – to think that it’s acceptable to treat women that way.
“To use my stepmother’s words recently as well, there is a global pandemic of violence against women.”
He added: “It’s no longer a case of me asking for accountability, but at this point the world is asking for accountability, and the world is asking for some form of comment from the monarchy but the silence is deafening. To put it mildly.
“Everything to do with my wife, after six years, they haven’t said a single thing.”
Amid the controversy last month, Clarkson said he was “horrified to have caused so much hurt”, but stopped short of an actual apology.