Jeremy Clarkson will STAY as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? ‘at the moment’

Jeremy Clarkson will remain host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? ‘at the moment’, ITV’s boss Kevin Lygo said last night.

The ex-Top Gear star sparked a backlash after writing he feels ‘hate’ for Meghan Markle and dreams of seeing her publicly humiliating following the row over her incendiary Netflix docuseries.

Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London yesterday, Mr Lygo, managing director of ITV Studios, said: ‘I would say what he writes in a newspaper column… We have no control over what he says.

‘We hire him as a consummate broadcaster of the most famous quiz on television, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Jeremy Clarkson is facing calls to be sacked from his role as host of ITV’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

‘So it’s not quite in our wheelhouse but I don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote that. It was awful.’

Asked if ITV will keep Clarkson as host of the quiz show, a position he inherited from Chris Tarrant in 2018, Mr Lygo said: ‘Yes, at the moment we are.’

Asked if Clarkson represents ITV’s values, Mr Lygo replied: ‘No, of course he doesn’t in that instance.’

On Monday, Clarkson responded to the controversy, writing on Twitter: ‘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.’

In an apparent reference to the iconic Walk of Shame scene in Game of Thrones, the ex-Top Gear host added that he wants to see ‘people throwing lumps of excrement’ at Meghan

The article also took aim at Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and has sparked criticism among MPs, celebrities and even Clarkson’s daughter.

Yet it is not the first time that an ITV presenter has been complained of for targeting Meghan Markle.

 Last year, Piers Morgan resigned from Good Morning Britain after ‘disbelieving’ Meghan’s claims of feeling suicidal.

 Although Clarkson’s article was removed from The Sun’s website yesterday at his request, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said it has become its most complained about article. 

By 5pm on Tuesday  it had received more than 20,800 complaints in total.

Although it was removed from The Sun’s website yesterday at Clarkson’s request, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said it has become its most complained about article 

Ipso stated: ‘We will follow our usual processes to examine the complaints we have received. This will take longer than usual because of the volume of complaints.

‘Ipso works to uphold editorial standards by deciding whether the Editors’ Code of Practice has been breached in individual cases; monitoring trends in editorial standards; and making interventions to improve standards.’