In Defense of Clarkson

Following Jeremy Clarkson's disrespectful Sun article about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the writer and TV presenter should be subjected to a no holds barred fight against Oleksandr Usyk, in the round, surrounded by the Royal Family and their loyal subjects. Usyk will inevitably crush Clarkson's skull by pushing his thumbs through his eyeballs,as they watch on in glee,

Now of course, as you can probably tell from my title, I don't actually believe what I just wrote. What also may not be clear, if you didn't watch Game of Thrones, is I'm using a reference to a scene from the fantasy television show, as a not very-funny exaggeration of how people reacted to Jeremy Clarkson's article, about his disgust for the warts and all documentary series Harry and Meghan created for Netflix.

"Oh, we're not pleased, but the exposure is great"

If you've been living under a rock for the last few weeks, I'll try bring you up to speed. Following the release of the above mentioned documentary, in his weekly column for The Sun newspaper, Clarkson used a reference to a scene from GoT where the then Queen of the fantasy world the show is set, is paraded naked through the streets, whilst having rotten food thrown at her, whilst being followed by a disciplinarian nun ringing a bell and chanting "SHAME".

If that makes no sense, I'll link in the scene here. He used this reference as an example of what should be done to Meghan Markle following the broadcast of the documentary.

Where thing got very sticky was, Jeremy didn't actually mention he was referring to a scene from GoT and readers of The Sun (and probably very many who didn't read the article at all) took his word's quite literally and believed he wanted this act to be played out in reality.

The cesspool that is Twitter exploded in outrage, daytime TV and radio shows couldn't fill enough air time calling for Clarkson to be dismissed from every job he is currently on the payroll for and that he had essentially enacted a form of treason.

The only big mistake I can see that Jeremy made, was his assumption that everyone had seen GoT and had got the reference. However, it's 2023 (albeit the article was written at the end of 2022) and you can't say anything in a public sphere that might offended a small group of people.

Opinions being like arseholes and everyone having one is nothing new, the problem is that those with opposing opinions can shout loudly on social media for the whole world to see.

Had Clarkson written his piece ten or more years ago, hardly anyone would have noticed or cared. Sure there would have been a few complaints sent to the paper and even the Royal Press Office may have chimed in, but at most, The Sun would have inserted a small apology and a retraction from Clarkson and the World would have kept on spinning.

The Sun, hard hitting journalism

In today's society however, The Sun received 6000 complaints, which is less than 0.02% of the population of England, but rather than those complaints being sent privately in the post like the good old days, people were able to voice their anger over the public forum. Therefore, people who wouldn't have known or cared otherwise were now able to jump on the anger bandwagon; and like many before him, Clarkson was soon being called to "be cancelled".

So let's try and put some perspective on this whole mess. To start, this column was written in The Sun, the cheapest of the shitty British tabloid rags. Anyone who takes the content of said publication with any form of integrity needs to reevaluate where they get their information from. This is a newspaper that only until a few years ago dedicated it's entire third page to topless women.

Another factor, Jeremy Clarkson has forged any entire career on hyperbole. The man has been writing content and making television for more that 40 years and nearly every piece of work he has created has been built around exaggerations and pop-culture references. It's just this time the reference went over people's heads and the exaggeration was taken seriously.

Those who took the article as literal, claimed Clarkson was advocating violence against women. Even his own daughter turned to social media calling for his head, which highlights how ludicrous and out of hand the whole debacle had become.

I've been a follower of Clarkson for pretty much my entire life. Whilst I haven't agreed with everything he has said or done, I also know he is not an evil bigot. As mentioned above, he articulates himself in an exaggerated form. To believe he wishes violence on women only goes to highlight how it's becoming increasingly difficult to express one's self to an intended audience, without the entire world chiming in with their two cents.

This sort of reaction to what is seen as "controversial" is becoming an ever increasing and worrying trend. Comedians' jokes are being taken out of context, people's actions from years, even decades in the past are being unearthed to shame them in the present. Shit, even dead people are being called to be cancelled by the so called "woke".

Where it all ends, it's quite hard to say. Unfortunately it's a small number of people with very loud voices that turn a camp-fire into a raging inferno. It will be a very sad; and let's be honest, boring society if everyone becomes too scared to speak their mind and we all live in a world of self censorship.

He has a book and TV show to promote, who knew

Clarkson has since apologised publicly to Meghan and Harry, which they didn't accept. I'm sure secretly they're delighted by the whole thing. These are two people who clearly crave being the center of attention. Meghan, an actress who married into the world's most famous family and Harry, who could hardly wait for his grandmother to be in her tomb before he released his book slagging off all of his kin. Arguably the saddest part of the whole affair, is it serves to highlight the absurd, voyeuristic love people have for the Royal Family. Why people have a fascination for a bunch of entitled, inbred monarchs is beyond me. Clarkson included.

Clarkson he has been a huge influence on me as car enthusiast and as a wannabe journalist, I love his work and I will continue to defend him, but he isn't perfect, none of us are. He admitted he was wrong and he apologised, that should be the end of the matter. Lord knows, there are far more pressing issues to be concerned about than The Royals and Jeremy Clarkson. Oh, and if you haven't watched Game of Thrones, don't bother, I gets a bit shit after season 5.