Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has been full of bad takes over the years, from racist comments to suicide jokes. But he’s still at it, and the newest target of his annoyance is Greta Thunberg—an “idiot” teenage climate activist who has, Clarkson added, “killed the car show.”
That’s it, everyone. We’ve figured it out.
End the global surveys. Stop the equations. Give the overheating calculators and endless spreadsheets a break. We have the answer: An adolescent born in 2003 has singlehandedly killed the concept of the car show, and the car itself, both of which have been around since long before she was born and still exist today.
This enlightening discovery is all thanks to Clarkson, who will be 60 soon, who told the Sun that Thunberg, 16, is a big reason why young people hate cars:
Jeremy, 59, ranted: “Everyone I know under 25 isn’t the slightest bit interested in cars — Greta Thunberg has killed the car show.
“They’re taught at school, before they say ‘Mummy and Daddy’, that cars are evil, and it’s in their heads.”
Clarkson went on to say global warming exists, but that Thunberg, who is trying to make that point clear to everyone, is an idiot. (?) (Who knows.) (Anyone?)
From the Sun:
But Jeremy adds: “For the first time ever, we’ve had global warming rammed down our throats — and we’ve not been idiotic, it’s very definitely a thing. You can change your mind.
“Only an idiot doesn’t change their mind when faced with irrefutable evidence. The question is, what to do about it? That’s a more interesting debate than what is happening.”
But turning to Greta again, he says: “She’s an idiot. Going round saying we’re all going to die, that’s not going to solve anything, my dear.”
Clarkson has regularly reminded the world how much he despises Thunberg, who is 43 years younger than he is and doing much more than the rest of us probably were at 16.
He wrote a column for the Sun this year after her speech on the devastating effects of climate change at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City, calling it a “full-on adolescent meltdown” and saying she should go to her room until she’s calmed down. Clarkson’s column also had a healthy dose of sexism, because roasting a teenager on a large platform is no good without it.
In Clarkson’s world, Thunberg is now to blame for the Youths™ falling out of love with cars, even though this has been a talking point for years and tossing blame around for an entire cultural shift is about as irresponsible as you can get. Clarkson also has no reason to say anyone is “kill[ing] the car show,” as the man managed to punch someone while on a car show, get fired from said car show, and have an entirely new car show created for him because he’s such a big name. That post-punch car show on Amazon Prime, The Grand Tour, is still going strong, with a Reuters report showing it was one of the most successful Amazon shows in 2017 as far as bringing new subscribers in. It is also making the hosts, including Clarkson, a lot of money.
But go off, Jeremy. It seems to make you feel better.