SCOTLAND’S First Minister has called Jeremy Clarkson’s comments about Meghan Markle “deeply misogynistic” and “downright awful”.
The former Top Gear host sparked outrage over the weekend with a column in which he said he “dreams” of the day Markle is paraded naked through the streets with excrement thrown at her.
In the same article, Clarkson said he hated Nicola Sturgeon and serial killer Rose West in the same sentence.
Speaking to LBC, Sturgeon said Clarkson’s language towards the Duchess of Sussex were “beyond the pale”.
“I accept, I’m a politician – people get to say all sorts of things about me and that’s part of the democratic process,” she said.
“But there is a thing here about everybody in the exercise of freedom of speech, whoever you are and whatever your views are, doing that with a sense of responsibility, because words have consequences.”
She went on to say she feels “pity” for men like Clarkson.
“I think what he said about Meghan Markle was deeply misogynistic and just downright awful and horrible,” she told reporters.
“I have to say, taking a step back from it, my overwhelming emotion about guys like Jeremy Clarkson is pity – I mean, what is it that makes somebody so distorted by hate that makes them write these things. I think that possibly gives an insight into Jeremy Clarkson and the kind of person he is.”
Writing in The Sun, Clarkson had said: “I hate her (Meghan). Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level.”
He went on to say he was “dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.
By Monday morning, charities were condemning the media personality for his writing.
Domestic violence charity White Ribbon Scotland put out a Twitter thread warning against the argument that Clarkson was just being funny.
“We are all responsible for the filters we run our thoughts through," they said. "When are we going to stop incentivising those who would abuse or be violent towards women for the sake of some sick misogynistic moment of humour, then patting ourselves on the back for how clever we are?"
Clarkson’s own daughter Emily has also condemned her dad’s piece and said she stands against everything he wrote.
