Sturgeon hits out at Clarkson’s ‘deeply misogynistic’ comments about Meghan

Nicola Sturgeon has condemned comments the TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson made about the Duchess of Sussex in a newspaper column.

Clarkson wrote about Meghan in The Sun saying he hated her on a “cellular level”.

The article led to more than 6,000 complaints to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso).

And Clarkson later said he was “horrified to have caused so much hurt” with the comments.

The First Minister, who was also mentioned in the column as a woman he hated, said his comments about the royal were “deeply misogynist”.

Clarkson wrote: “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”.

The former Top Gear host, who now presents shows on Amazon Prime, later said his comments about the “parade” were intended to be a reference to the fantasy show, Game of Thrones.

In a tweet posted on Monday, 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.”

The First Minister had earlier condemned his column, joining a chorus of celebrities and politicians to have done so.

Speaking to broadcasters on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said his comments about Meghan were “beyond the pale”.

She said: “I accept I’m a politician and people get to say all sorts of things about me and that’s part of the democratic process.”

She said everyone should exercise their freedom of speech with responsibility because “words have consequences”.

Ms Sturgeon continued: “I think what he said about Meghan Markle was deeply misogynist and just downright awful and horrible.

“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.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan said his comments were “dangerous and inexcusable”.

Clarkson’s daughter, Emily Clarkson, said in an online post that she is “against everything that my dad wrote”.