Amazon 'to drop The Grand Tour after Jeremy Clarkson controversy'
The presenter reportedly won't appear in any new shows on Prime Video beyond 2024.
Amazon Prime Video could part ways with Jeremy Clarkson following comments made about Meghan Markle in a column he wrote for The Sun newspaper.
Variety reports that the streamer won't be working with Clarkson on any future projects – though a batch of already-commissioned shows, including new episodes of Clarkson's Farm and The Grand Tour, are yet to be released.
The publication claims the presenter likely won't appear in any new shows on Prime Video beyond 2024, depending on when the next Grand Tour specials are released.
Prime Video currently has a number of shows in the works with Clarkson, including Clarkson's Farm season 2, which will land on the streaming site on 10th February 2023, and season 3 which is in production and is expected to air in 2024.
As well as this, Clarkson and his Grand Tour co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May are working on more specials, following on from The Grand Tour Presents A Scandi Flick, which launched in September 2022.
The decision to part ways with Clarkson would mean that Clarkson's Farm would end with season 3 and The Grand Tour will also come to an end. According to Variety, The Grand Tour will conclude after four more specials - the last of which is likely to land in late 2024.
Amazon Prime Video declined to comment. RadioTimes.com has also contacted Jeremy Clarkson's rep for comment.
The news comes after Jeremy shared a lengthy statement on his Instagram account on Monday 16th January, apologising for the column in which he suggested he wanted to "throw lumps of excrement" at Markle.
In the post, Clarkson suggested that Amazon Prime Video and ITV – who make Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which Clarkson also hosts – were "incandescent" after reading his column.
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"Usually, I read what I’ve written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry," he explained. "So when I’d finished, I just pressed send. And then, when the column appeared the next day, the land mine exploded.
"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. We’ve all been there, I guess.
"In that precise moment when we suddenly realise we’ve completely messed up. You are sweaty and cold at the same time. And your head pounds. And you feel sick. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Had I really said that? It was horrible."
The presenter revealed that he also contacted Harry and Meghan directly to apologise for his comments.
"On Christmas morning, I e-mailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologise to them too. I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I’d used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry," he said.
In Clarkson's December 16th column, the Grand Tour presenter wrote in reference to Markle: "I hate her. Not like I hate [Scottish National Party leader] Nicola Sturgeon or [British serial killer] Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level."
He continued: "At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and 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."
Clarkson previously issued a brief statement on 19th December, admitting: "I put my foot in it."
He said: "In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people."
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