Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid criticised Jeremy Clarkson’s public apology for his condemned newspaper column on Meghan Markle.
The Grand Tour presenter posted a new expanded apology in which he claimed he had not read the copy of his column after he wrote it and denied being misogynistic.
Susanna read and commented on the fresh statement, posted to the TV presenter’s Instagram, on Tuesday morning’s instalment of the ITV breakfast programme.
Clarkson wrote: “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.”
At this point, Susanna interjected to add: “Well, it was on your computer first.”
Clarkson continued: “We've all been there,” before Susanna said: “No.”
Clarkson later went on: "I knew what had happened straight away. I'd been thinking of a scene in Games Of Thrones, but I'd forgotten to mention this.”
In his column, published in December, Clarkson said he was “dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while crowds chant, 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her”.
Susanna then put the statement down as co-host Ed Balls said: “It’s the worst scene in Game of Thrones by far. It’s terrible. It’s a terrible analogy.”
Susanna noted: “The way he writes in these apologies, it’s almost as if he had an out of body experience when he wrote it, because he said it wasn’t until he read it that he realised how awful it was.”
Clarkson went on to say he had written to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on Christmas morning after his remarks sparked a huge backlash, with Clarkson's daughter among the many speaking out against him.
Susanna then asked: “Really Christmas? Is that appropriate on Christmas Day? That was a Christmas card.”
Daily Mirror journalist Kevin Maguire joined the hosts in the studio and described the Clarkson’s Farm star as a ‘self-serving grovel’ and said he has only issued the apology after being ‘threatened financially’.
He added: “Because Amazon is going to drop him. He’s worried ITV are going to drop him from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
“He writes about her in a grotesque way and then sends it to her husband. Then, he quite rightly points out he’s written nauseous, poisonous, vile, toxic pieces about so many.”
Susanna then posed the query: “The one thing I would say is should that apology be accepted in good faith or, as in this case, do you have to apologise for everything else that you’ve ever done in order for your apology for one thing to be accepted.”
A spokesperson for the Sussexes said the couple rejected his latest apology, published on Instagram on Monday, and did not believe the article was an isolated incident.
