ITV boss Kevin Lygo has blasted Jeremy Clarkson for his ‘awful’ remarks about Meghan Markle and said he must say sorry.
Clarkson generated a record 17,500 complaints to press regulator IPSO with his attack on the Duchess.
He wrote in his column for newspaper The Sun that he hated the former actress on a “cellular level” and dreamed of seeing her paraded naked while excrement was thrown at her.
Mr Lygo said at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch: “It was awful what he said and I think even he has now acknowledged that. He should apologise. I don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote that.”
He said “consummate broadcaster” Clarkson, 62, was contracted to front the next series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and so would stay on ITV “at the moment”.
Clarkson acknowledged an error but instead of making a full apology said he had “rather put my foot in it”.
A host of TV stars such as Carol Vorderman, John Bishop and Kathy Burke were quick to condemn his newspaper column.
And his daughter Emily, a podcaster who campaigns against online abuse, said: “I stand against everything that my dad wrote about Meghan Markle.”
The BBC fired Clarkson in 2015 for punching a producer who told him no hot meals were available.
Last year Piers Morgan quit Good Morning Britain after deriding the Duchess’s claims of feeling suicidal.
He stormed off the show's set and refused to apologise as he clashed with GMB co-star Alex Beresford over response to Meghan and husband Prince Harry's interview with Oprah Winfrey.
ITV confirmed his sudden departure, revealing: "Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain.
"ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add."
Later, Piers confirmed he quit GMB after refusing to apologise for his comments about the Duchess of Sussex.
In a newspaper column in March, Piers admitted he'd had "a bad night of broken sleep" after hosting the show.
He how he soon realised that the situation had very much escalated, the following day.
Piers wrote: "Oh s**t. This must be more serious than I thought. Mid-afternoon, Kevin Lygo, ITV's Director of Television, who I'd spoken to several times since yesterday, rang to say we were now 'on the cliff edge' and either I apologised, or I would have to leave GMB.
"And even if I did apologise, that wouldn't be the end of it. The woke brigade would keep coming for me, demanding I apologise for everything else they find offensive – which of course, is absolutely everything."
