Jeremy Clarkson has apologised for comments he made about Meghan Markle in his newspaper column following a widespread backlash – including criticism from his own daughter.
In an article for The Sun, the former Top Gear host spoke about the Duchess of Sussex, which social media users called “entirely unacceptable”.
“I hate her,” Clarkson wrote. “Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level.”
He then wrote that he lies awake at night “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”, claiming “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way.”
“But what makes me despair,” he added, “is that younger people, especially girls, think she’s pretty cool”.
But after coming under fire over the comments, Clarkson has since tweeted an apology.
He said: “Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. 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. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.”
Clarkson’s daughter Emily, who hosts the podcast Should I Delete That?, had taken to social media to condemn her father’s comments in his column.
In an Instagram story, she said: “My views are and have always been clear when it comes to misogyny, bullying and the treatment of women by the media.
“I want to make it very clear that I stand against everything that my dad wrote about Meghan Markle and I remain in support of those that are targeted with online hatred.”
In a tweet, television host Carol Vorderman said: “NO, Jeremy Clarkson. Not on any level, in any circumstance, is it OK to write this stuff about any woman and absolutely NO to ‘everyone who’s my age thinks the same’.”
Comedian Jason Manford tweeted a photo of the column and said: “If you can defend Clarkson in this then please don’t reply to me, just unfollow and block and move on. We are never going to agree.”
Labour and Co-op MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy tweeted in support of Meghan and advised users to speak to MPs: “The best response to hatred Jeremy Clarkson and others promote of women, especially those of colour, is not agonised tweets. It’s demanding we recognise in law as we do with other forms of hate the crimes it drives. Channel your anger at his words into telling your MP to act”.
Radio DJ and TV host Edith Bowman wrote on Twitter: “How is someone able to print such abusive comments in an actual newspaper?”
Speaking to broadcasters on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said Clarkson’s comments about the duchess were “beyond the pale”.
“I think what he said about Meghan Markle was deeply misogynist and just downright awful and horrible,” she said.
“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 they end up writing these things?
“I think that possibly gives an insight into Jeremy Clarkson and the kind of person he is.
“So maybe he just needs to take a step back from things and just think about life a bit more.”
Asked about the row, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “For everyone in public life, language matters.”
Harry and Meghan have now released the final episodes of their six-part Netflix docuseries. The Sussexes opened up about their experiences in the “institution” and the difficulties they faced due to negative media coverage.
Princess Eugenie has posted a tribute to Michelle Trachtenberg after the actress’s death.
The Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, 39, was found dead at her home in New York City on Wednesday.
An investigation into her death has been opened but “criminality is not suspected”, police said.
In a post on Instagram today, Princess Eugenie thanked Trachtenberg for “so many memories”.
“Goodbye special friend. You are so loved and missed,” she wrote.
“Thank you for so many memories of laughter and fun. You were so thoughtful and generous and sooo funny.
“My favourite was listening to you order food, always done with precision so you got exactly what we all wanted.
“I’m thinking of you up there friend, of your spirit that was so bright and your joy you brought to so many.”
Eugenie previously lived in New York and in 2013, she was seen attending a basketball game at Madison Square Garden with Trachtenberg.
The actress shared numerous social media updates featuring the princess over the years and in 2020, she hailed her as “one of the most dearest, kindest, most genuine friends I have ever had in my life”.
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Trachtenberg was best known for playing Dawn Summers in Buffy, the younger sister of the title character played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, and starring as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl.
Paying tribute to her co-star, Gellar shared a series of pictures of herself and Trachtenberg, alongside a caption referencing a scene from the drama.
“Michelle listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you,” she wrote.
Image: Michelle Trachtenberg with Sarah Michelle Gellar in 2007. Pic: AP
A number of Trachtenberg’s Gossip Girl co-stars have also shared tributes on social media, with Blake Lively writing on Instagram: “Everything she did, she did 200%.”
Lively, who starred as Serena van der Woodsen in the teen drama, continued: “She laughed the fullest at someone’s joke, she faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong, she cared deeply about her work, she was proud to be a part of this community and industry as painful as it could be sometimes, she was fiercely loyal to her friends and brave for those she loved, she was big and bold and distinctly herself.”
Taylor Momsen, Gossip Girl’s Jenny Humphrey, said: “I will miss you everyday my love.”
“I’ll miss our late night calls that no one should ever hear but us,” she wrote. “She was always in my corner and there to support me whether I was right or wrong. I think we truly understood each other and I am so grateful to have had a friend like you in my life for so long.”
“Michelle was one of a kind,” wrote fellow Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford. “I remember her coming on set for the first time and just absolutely owning it.
“She was a force of nature and just so so unapologetically funny and magnetic.. remembering those years with a big smile. Just a terrible loss. Love you.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Hollywood legend Gene Hackman and his wife have been found dead at their home in the New Mexico city of Santa Fe, police have said.
Hackman, 95, and is wife Betsy Arakawa, 64, were found dead with their dog, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said.
A statement to Sky News said: “We do not believe foul play was a factor in their deaths, however exact cause of death has not been determined at this time.”
Spokesperson Denise Avila said deputies responded to a request to do a welfare check on Wednesday around 1.45pm local time to find the couple and their dog dead at the scene.
Image: Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa in 1991. Pic: Dave Lewis/Shutterstock
Hackman won an Oscar for a leading role in The French Connection, a 1971 action movie by William Friedkin, and another for best supporting actor in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 western, Unforgiven.
Image: The French Connection earned him his first Oscar. Pic: 20th Century Fox/D’Antoni Productions/Schine-Moore Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
He was also known for playing Lex Luthor in the Superman films of the late 1970s and 1980s.
Roles in the Francis Ford Coppola mystery thriller The Conversation and in the historical drama Mississippi Burning, where he starred as an FBI agent alongside Willem Dafoe, helped cement his career as one of Hollywood’s greats.
Image: Playing Lex Luthor alongside Christopher Reeve’s Superman. Pic: THA/Shutterstock
Long career
The former US Marine appeared in more than 80 films, as well as on television and the stage, during a lengthy career that started in the early 1960s.
He earned his first Oscar nomination for his breakout role as the brother of bank robber Clyde Barrow in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde.
He is also remembered for playing Captain Frank Ramsey alongside Denzel Washington in the 1995 thriller Crimson Tide.
Image: He starred alongside Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide. Pic: Richard Foreman/THA/Shutterstock
In the early 2000s, he starred as an eccentric patriarch in The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson.
Hackman’s final film appearance was in 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport, after which he retired from acting and began co-writing adventure novels with friend and underwater archaeologist Daniel Lenihan.
“It’s very relaxing for me,” Hackman told Empire Magazine in 2020. “I don’t picture myself as a great writer, but I really enjoy the process.”
Image: Playing the villain in Unforgiven. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
‘He could play anyone’
Michael Caine revered Hackman as “one of the greatest actors” he had known while presenting him with the Cecil B DeMille Award in 2003.
Arakawa was a classical pianist. The couple married in 1991 and lived outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Hackman had three children, Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne, with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese, who died in 2017.
Star Trek star George Takei said: “We have lost one of the true giants of the screen,” in a tribute on X.
“Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it.
“He could be everyone and no one, a towering presence or an everyday Joe. That’s how powerful an actor he was,” Takei wrote on X.
“He will be missed, but his work will live on forever.”
Nineties boyband Five are reuniting and will be touring the UK later this year.
The group – made up of Abz Love, J Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon – haven’t performed together for a quarter of a century.
In their heyday, the platinum-selling band topped charts across the globe and sold more than 20 million records worldwide.
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Their 12-date UK arena tour, Keep On Movin’ 2025, will begin in Brighton at the end of October, before travelling to Bournemouth, Cardiff, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Glasgow, and London where they will perform at The O2.
They will perform some of their biggest hits, including If Ya Gettin’ Down, Everybody Get Up and international success When The Lights Go Out.
Fans will also be treated to some of their past number ones, with Keep On Movin’, We Will Rock You, and Let’s Dance also on the playlist.
Speaking ahead of the tour, band member Robinson said: “This has been a long time coming and it really does feel right for all of us now – 25 years on, and we’re so ready for it. Reconnecting as a 5 over the last year has been special and I know I speak for all the boys when I say we can’t wait to do this all over again. Hope you’re ready!!”
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Abz Love added: “We really can’t wait to get back on stage together & see the fans, it’s gonna go OFF! Buzzing to have Naughty Boy on tour with us too… 5 bad boys and a naughty boy, that sounds like a lot of fun. Let’s gooooo!”
Formed in 1997, Five is the only UK act to hit the Top 10 with all of their 11 singles, including three number ones. Their first and second albums both went double platinum.
Their tour announcement comes 25 years after the band won their first BRIT Award for best British pop act in 2000.
Tickets go on general sale on 7 March, with a pre-sale from 5 March.