Jeremy Clarkson has denied being “sacked” by ITV as the presenter of its flagship quiz show, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?.
On Wednesday (1 March), ITV boss Carolyn McCall confirmed that the show’s forthcoming season, which is currently in production, will be Clarkson’s last.
The news came after Clarkson’s recent controversy surrounding a column he wrote about Meghan Markle. The former Top Gear host wrote that he hated the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level” in his piece for The Sun.
However, on Wednesday evening, Clarkson denied that he had been “sacked” from the show.
“So many kind messages about today’s reports,” he tweeted. “But relax. [Partner] Lisa and I have not split up and I have not been sacked as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.”
In her interview with Variety, McCall did not say that Clarkson had been sacked, but that the show’s contract was coming to an end.
“We’re contracted to this [season], so we will do that,” McCall said. “And then we have no future commitments. And we haven’t made any statements about that.”
An ITV spokesperson further clarified: “There are no further commissioning commitments beyond that currently, as is typical with such shows where we make commissioning decisions on a series-by-series basis.
“Therefore for the avoidance of doubt, neither Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? nor Jeremy Clarkson have been cancelled.”
On Clarkson’s controversial column about Markle, McCall added: “We don't endorse that in any way... there's no place for that on ITV.”
In the article, published on 16 December, Clarkson wrote that he awaited the day Markle would be made to parade naked through the streets of Britain while crowds chanted “shame” and threw “excrement” at her.
Clarkson later apologised for the column, describing his language as “disgraceful” and saying he was “profoundly sorry”. The Sun also apologised and said it regretted the publication of the column, which was removed online.
The presenter later said that he had reached out to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex over the article. However, Harry and Meghan issued their own statement claiming that Clarkson had only apologised to Harry.
