Jeremy Clarkson won’t face any kind of significant punishment for writing a violent torture fantasy about the Duchess of Sussex. The Sun published the fantasy, meaning the editors and the publisher are A-OK with that kind of racist, misogynistic hate represented in their newspaper. While thousands of complaints have been lodged about Clarkson’s vile column, all that happened was a half-assed non-apology from Clarkson and the removal of the column from the Sun’s site. That’s it. No advertisers have left the Sun, there will be zero accountability for the Sun, nor will there be any accountability for Clarkson personally. He still has his job at the Sun. He still has his job as host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire too:

Comments made by Jeremy Clarkson about the Duchess of Sussex in a column for the Sun have been described as “awful” by ITV’s media and entertainment boss. Kevin Lygo said there were no plans “at the moment” to replace him as host of gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

He said Mr Clarkson’s comments did not represent ITV’s values.

More than 20,000 complaints have been made to the press regulator after Clarkson wrote on Friday that he “hated [Meghan] on a cellular level”.

Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London on Tuesday, Mr Lygo said he had “no control” over what Mr Clarkson wrote in his newspaper columns.

“We hire him as a consummate broadcaster of the most famous quiz on television, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” he said. “So it’s not quite in our wheelhouse but I don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote that. It was awful.”

[From BBC]

It makes sense to me – Britain seems to have no concept of accountability for white men, and British work culture seems to have a pervasive and entrenched attitude of racism, classism, sexism and anti-Americanism. Meaning, Clarkson’s boss can call a violent torture fantasy targetting a Black American woman “awful” and then the boss will just give a “boys will be boys” shrug. Speaking of, Clarkson will face zero legal repercussions:

It is not the job of officers to “police people’s ethics”, Met chief Sir Mark Rowley has said as he ruled out a hate crime investigation into Jeremy Clarkson’s comments about Meghan Markle.

Mr Clarkson, the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire host, said he hated Ms Markle and wanted to see “excrement” thrown at her in the street.

The comments, made by Mr Clarkson in a newspaper column after the final three episodes of the Harry & Meghan documentary were published on Netflix, drew fierce criticism from campaigners and members of the public, some of whom described them as racist and misogynistic.

But Sir Mark, the UK’s most senior officer, said police should only get involved when speech becomes threatening or “incites violence.”

[From The Independent]

Pretty sure Clarkson’s column was threatening and inciting violence. Pretty sure that men like Clarkson and Piers Morgan have consistently incited violence and hatred against Meghan for merely existing. The fact is, this ITV boss and the Metropolitan police fundamentally believe that Meghan *should* be dehumanized and subjected to violent hate speech. Plus, it helps that Clarkson is being protected by his friend, Queen Camilla.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

Before we got a loose confirmation that Prince Harry would be interviewed by Anderson Cooper, there were rumors that Harry would also give interviews to British journalists to promote his memoir, Spare. Harry has remained close to Tom Bradby, who works for ITV and was there for the Sussexes’ last foreign tour as working royals. Now Valentine Low at the Times says Bradby scored Harry’s British interview:

The Duke of Sussex is to publicise his forthcoming book in an interview with Tom Bradby, whose documentary about Harry and Meghan disclosed her fragile mental state.

Bradby, who has known Prince Harry since he was teenager, is now recording the interview, to be broadcast on ITV early next month to coincide with the publication of Spare, his memoir.

Reports that Bradby had landed one of the biggest television scoops of the year follow the disclosure that Harry is to be interviewed by Anderson Cooper, the US news anchor days, before the book is published on January 10.

[From The Times]

“Bradby… is now recording the interview…” Meaning what? That Bradby is already in Montecito right now, interviewing Harry? That’s interesting. I would assume that Anderson Cooper is around too. It will be fascinating to see if those are the only two TV interviews Harry does, and whether he does any print interviews too. Meanwhile, Low makes a point of repeating the gossip that Prince Wiilliam cut off his friendship with Bradby several years ago when William perceived Bradby to be “too friendly with Harry.” William is a 40-year-old man-child who throws tantrums every time someone is friends with Harry.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Backgrid.

As the Jeremy Clarkson story exploded over the weekend, people obviously expounded on how Clarkson’s violent rhetoric about the Duchess of Sussex reflected poorly on the entire Windsor clan. The Windsors have always stayed silent as Meghan has been attacked, abused, smeared and threatened. That’s because the Windsors enjoy seeing Meghan harmed in such ways, and they even instigate it. The call is coming from inside the house most of the time. What was also interesting was seeing some people bring the conversation around to Prince William’s treatment of his sister-in-law and why, as Harry said, they were always happy to lie to protect William. Catherine Whelen is a managing editor at the Wall Street Journal, and she tweeted a familiar “theory” about why things went down the way they did:

Interesting enough, I can’t embed that tweet because shortly after she tweeted that, her account disappeared. Perhaps it was on Rupert Murdoch’s orders – the Mudochs own the WSJ, The Sun and the Times of London. The Sun and the Times seem to be under strict orders to tamp down and flatly ignore gossip about William’s wandering sceptre. So… is that what happened here?

Besides that, Whelan kind of has the timeline wrong, at least that’s my theory. I think William’s very alleged (!!!) affair with the Marchioness of Cholmondeley was happening before and during Kate’s pregnancy with Louis, meaning 2017-18. The gossip about the affair didn’t start until February/March 2019. I think William absolutely briefed against Meghan specifically in 2019 to hide gossip about his affair. Even Richard Kay – who likely spoke directly to William – seemed to get orders to blame MEGHAN for the affair story. It was truly a bonkers time in royal gossip. But yes, in general, William and Kate sought to smear Meghan for multiple reasons, some of which involved William covering up rumors of a torrid affair.

National newspapers ignored several people giving details of Prince William and Rose Hanbury’s affair whilst Kate middleton was pregnant, so it’s no surprise The S*n printed that guff by Jeremy Clarkson.

Plain as day to see the agenda they’re following.

Sorry, whose agenda…

— Alex Tiffin (@RespectIsVital) December 17, 2022

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

The chronology was always pretty cut-and-dry: Queen Camilla had a lavish Christmas lunch last Wednesday (Dec. 14) alongside some “A-list friends,” as Richard Eden crowed. Eden published his column about the lunch last Friday, where he named some of the attendees at the lunch, including Judi Dench, Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson. The celebrity lunch was even billed as some kind of unhinged “response” to the Duchess of Sussex, as in “take that, Meghan! Queen Camilla is having lunch with Piers Morgan, that’s how little we care about the fact he was one of your main harassers and abusers.” Then Jeremy Clarkson’s column in the Sun was published last Friday (the same day as Eden’s column) and look at that, Clarkson made it perfectly clear that Camilla implicitly or explicitly signed off on her good friends writing violent, misogynistic fantasies about punishing Meghan, and those fantasies being published in mainstream newspapers.

In the wake of the national and global backlash against Clarkson, the palace has remained quiet. Queen Camilla hasn’t said one thing against Clarkson or in defense of Meghan. Clarkson was trotted out to give a non-apology and The Sun finally removed the original column. But still no word from Camilla or the palace. Now Yahoo reports that the palace is quite upset that the Rottweiler’s name has been dragged into Clarkson’s mess. These people, I swear to God.

Buckingham Palace has refused to comment on a “hateful” column by Jeremy Clarkson, in which he said he fantasizes about Meghan Markle being paraded naked through the streets while crowds throw “excrement” at her.

More than 60 MPs have since written to the editor of The Sun, condemning the column “in the strongest terms” and demanding the newspaper take action, claiming his “hateful” piece contributed to an “unacceptable climate of hatred and violence”. Clarkson responded to the outcry in a Twitter post on Monday, in what has widely been viewed as a “non-apology”.

So far there has been no official, public statement on behalf of King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, despite the target of Clarkson’s attack being a member of the Royal Family.

Camilla is known for her campaign work to prevent violence against women, and it was only last month that she warned of a “global pandemic of violence against women” at a palace event.

Yahoo News UK understands that the palace is, however, angry at some of the media coverage of a lunch attended by both Camilla and Clarkson last week.

The event, last Friday, was attended by numerous high-profile individuals such as Dame Judi Dench, Claudia Winkleman and Piers Morgan, who left his role hosting Good Morning Britain in March 2021 after repeatedly criticising Meghan. It was held at Michelin-starred restaurant Murano in Mayfair and hosted by the former head of royal grocer Fortnum & Mason, Ewan Venters.

The palace is understood to feel that any attempt to link Camilla and Clarkson’s comments because they attended the same lunch together are highly misleading. It is also understood Camilla remains committed to highlighting and combatting violence against women and girls and that she resolutely condemns such abuse.

[From Yahoo UK]

Imagine how hateful, contemptible and vile you have to be to refuse to condemn violent rhetoric against a woman ON THE RECORD. “It is also understood Camilla remains committed to highlighting and combatting violence against women and girls and that she resolutely condemns such abuse.” Bitch, condemn it on the record. Make a statement. Say that your good friend and lunchmate Jeremy Clarkson is a racist piece of garbage. Oh, wait, you mean if Camilla says something on the record, then maybe people will ask why she was lunching with Clarkson and Piers Morgan in the first place? “Highly misleading” my ass. The palace is much more upset about Camilla’s side-chick name being dragged through the mud than they are about a national newspaper feeling emboldened to publish a grotesque fantasy denigrating a princess of the realm.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Elon Musk has “owned” Twitter for two months, and he’s done a huge amount of damage in that time. Twitter used to be a profitable business which brought in tens of millions in advertising every quarter. Advertisers have left Twitter in droves under Musk’s ownership. Musk has also been suspending the accounts of journalists who question him or his methed-out methods, all while platforming dangerous Nazis and right-wing fascists. The icing on the cake is that he’s a thin-skinned narcissist who can’t stand fact-checking, follow-up questions or mild criticism. Hilariously, while he was in Qatar for the World Cup final, he posted a poll asking if he should step down as Twitter CEO. It was one of the most-voted-upon polls in recent memory, with over 17 million Twitter users casting their votes. The results?

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

After he lost his own stupid poll, Musk stayed quiet on the matter for 24 hours, trying to come to terms with how much people despise him. Then, finally, last night he said something:

I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022

Congrats to everybody telling us two months ago that Musk would get bored of his shiny new thing and drop it in a few months. We’re right on schedule. Now, do I think Musk will actually abide by any of this? Eh. Right now, Musk enjoys being the Main Character, if people stop giving him oxygen constantly, his downfall will happen a lot faster.

Also: it’s worth noting that Musk’s future at Twitter is fundamentally connected to Tesla. Musk tweeted his conditional resignation just hours after he got his ass handed to him at a Tesla Shares Retreat, where Tesla investors pleaded with Musk to exit Twitter and protect their investment in the Fiery Death Trap business.

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty and Cover Images.

In Netflix’s Harry & Meghan series, the Duchess of Sussex explained why she rarely wore bright colors when she was living in the UK. Meghan said that she put thought into it because “To my understanding, you could never wear the same color as Her Majesty, if there’s a group event, but then you also shouldn’t be wearing the same color as one of the other more senior members of the family.” Meghan inadvertently revealed that no one was telling her what colors to wear in group situations, so she was figuring it out as she went along. She added: “So I was like, ‘Well, what’s a color that they’ll probably never wear?’ Camel, beige, white. So I wore a lot of muted tones, but it was also so I could just blend in. I’m not trying to stand out here. There was no version of me joining this family and me not doing everything I could to fit in. I don’t want to embarrass the family.”

I bring that up because the white royals are completely bonkers. They are obsessed with everything Meghan does or says, and even when she’s just explaining something mild in a non-critical way (“I wore beige because I didn’t want to stand out”), the Windsors take Meghan’s words as an “attack” and they try to counter her in unhinged ways. At Kate’s piano recital last week, the white royals came out to support Kate and put on a “united front.” That meant that Kate wore burgundy and she put Princess Charlotte in a little burgundy coat to “match.” Not only that, Pippa Middleton and Zara Tindall also wore burgundy. Like, they made a point of “showing up” Meghan by coordinating in similar shades of cranberry/burgundy.

The British papers have been talking about it ever since, like this color-coordination is some kind of petty “response” to Meghan. Then in today’s Daily Mail, they put it on the COVER. Amanda Platell “wonders” if perhaps all of the color-coordination “wasn’t a coincidence after all. That what we were witnessing was a subtle, long-distance riposte to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after their attack on the ‘racist’ Royal Family.” The fact that this childishness happened last week and the Mail is still trying to make it into some attack on Meghan is really something, huh?

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid, Avalon Red, Cover Images.

It’s perfectly acceptable to wear lots of black around the holidays: yes or no? I say yes. I love wearing lots of black anyway, but there’s just something about a sparkly black sweater with black trousers that just says “Christmas” to me. I would also argue that an all-black palette is perfect for smaller pops of Christmas color, like cheesy Christmas earrings or a jingle-bell necklace. I’m giving away these styling tips for free!!

Anyway, Kim Kardashian is feeling rather rocker-goth for the holidays. She turned up to three separate events wearing the ensemble you can see in these photos: a pair of black leather trousers and a cropped Dr. Dre & Snoop t-shirt. She went to Paris Hilton’s Christmas party like this. She also went to Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s Christmas party in this exact ensemble. The best event for this ensemble: she wore this to her nephew Mason Disick’s bar mitzvah. According to Page Six, Mason’s bar mitzvah had a “high fashion Chrome Hearts theme” so most of the family wore black.

Again, I’m not against black-for-the-holidays. I even think leather pants are fine for Christmas parties. But Kim should have paired her leather pants with a black turtleneck and maybe some a jaunty Christmas necklace for the parties. The exposed midriff and Snoop tee was possibly okay (??) for the bar mitzvah. Although it makes me wonder what kind of insane theme Penelope Disick’s bat mitzvah will have.

Photos courtesy of Paris Hilton’s IG and Backgrid.

Kate Hudson & Janelle Monae have gone to approximately eleventy billion premieres for The Glass Onion. [GFY]
Lainey on Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan & Jeremy Clarkson. [LaineyGossip]
Review of 1923, with Helen Mirren & Harrison Ford. [Pajiba]
Sharon Osbourne was hospitalized briefly. [Dlisted]
These Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces are fug as hell. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Babylon got two new awful trailers. [JustJared]
Say Yes To the Dress’s Randy Fenoli is engaged! [Starcasm]
Dior’s $3500 Advent calendar is unsurprisingly a rip-off. [Buzzfeed]
Harvey Weinstein was found guilty on three charges (including rape), but there’s a hung jury on the additional charges. [Jezebel]
I’ll say one nice thing about Rita Ora: her body is bonkers. [Egotastic]
Blind item: which Emmy-winning actor exposes himself to young women? [Gawker]

The Windsors have soft-launched a line of attack on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex since September. That attack? “Harry and Meghan killed Queen Elizabeth II.” The Windsors and their British media scriptwriters haven’t come out and said that directly, but they’ve been heavily insinuating it for months. It’s pretty disgusting, because QEII was a 96 year old woman in extremely poor health, and her handlers were covering up her poor health for a year. While I don’t doubt that the stress and drama of the entire family weighed on QEII, don’t put that the feet of Harry and Meghan solely. Especially since QEII took pains to call the Sussexes “beloved family members” and she personally invited them to her Jubbly AND provided them with security and more. Especially since Harry and Meghan always made it clear: they were cool with QEII and Philip. They literally never criticized Harry’s grandparents, ever. Behold, the latest attack from Casa de Unhinged.

The stress caused by Harry and Meghan’s falling out with the Royal Family had a ‘detrimental effect’ on the health of the Queen in the final months of her life, well-placed sources have told The Mail on Sunday. The revelation comes days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex renewed their attack on the Royals in the final three episodes of their Netflix series.

Now insiders have disclosed for the first time the true toll of the ‘Megxit’ family drama on the late monarch. In the lead-up to the couple’s move across the Atlantic and in the years since, the Royal Family has faced a stream of claims of Palace briefings against Meghan and Harry and even of racism.

A well-placed source was clear that Her Majesty’s health was already declining for reasons that had nothing to do with Megxit, but added: ‘It really affected the Queen’s health. It had a detrimental effect on her health. Yes she was elderly and there were other issues with that but nevertheless all the Harry and Meghan claims certainly contributed to that. I’m just so glad the Queen isn’t around to hear all about this latest programme. It is the very opposite to duty, unity and sacrifice – everything that she was brought up to believe in and which she embodied.’

The late Queen’s death certificate said that she died of ‘old age’. But those close to the monarch, who died on September 8 aged 96, believe that her frequent ‘mobility issues’ were impacted by the added stress of her grandson’s decision to break away from his family and criticise the institution to which she had dedicated her life.

[From The Daily Mail]

As I said, I don’t doubt that family dramas increased the stress on QEII in her final years. But those stresses were more than just her favorite grandson moving out of the country, for the love of God. There was also QEII’s whole-ass human trafficker son and his payoff to his rape victim. There was Charles caring solely about his Rottweiler to the exclusion of everyone and everything else. There was her rage-monster grandson and you KNOW QEII saw very well that William is temperamentally unsuited for the job. Literally everything we know for sure about QEII’s relationship with Harry and Meghan is that it was nothing but warm and happy. She was pleased that the Sussexes made the effort to come to her Jubbly. This is just the family weaponizing a dead woman in their completely bonkers “need” to attack the Sussexes 24-7.

Meanwhile, Charles sold the only thing QEII really cared about and loved – her horses. Remember, QEII was fond of saying: “après moi le déluge.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar and Cover Images.

Back in the day, the royalists were fond of saying that the Duchess of Cambridge was the sister Prince Harry never had. I always thought their relationship was more complicated than that, and that’s been shown to be true in the long-run. Kate liked to flirt with Harry and she loved attention from him, and her one-sided obsession was poisoned as soon as Harry fell for Meghan. Meanwhile, it looks like Princess Eugenie was actually the sister Harry never had this whole time – Harry was always said to be especially close to his York cousins, and as they’ve gotten older, Eugenie and Harry have a very real friendship. She’s the only Windsor to have visited the Sussexes in California, and I still believe that Eugenie was a big part of how the Sussexes were able to communicate with QEII without her aides knowing.

As we saw during the Jubbly and, more recently, at Kate’s Together at Christmas special, Eugenie is still invited to royal events even though she’s not a working royal. Eugenie and Jack are living part-time in Portugal as well, where Jack has a big new job. Getting away from the Windsor rats has done wonders for Eugenie, and I bet that’s increased her alliance with Harry too. Well, none of that is sitting well with a certain rage-monster. The Telegraph had a piece about how Eugenie needs to “pick a side.” This absolutely came from William.

It’s the week before Christmas and people around Britain are wondering warily whether any family grievances will play out at the dinner table. Add to this a global media spotlight, a gripping Netflix documentary and the future of the British monarchy and the result is explosive to say the least.

Relations between the two royal brothers have now broken down to the point where there is no question of Harry and Meghan celebrating Christmas anywhere within the same time zone of Sandringham. But spare a thought for Princess Eugenie – who has found herself caught out as what was once a reasonable middle ground transforms into no man’s land.

[The bond between the Sussexes and Brooksbanks] must have felt entirely natural until Harry and Meghan decided to split with the institution. At first, the world assumed that close family relations could continue even after the couple had stepped back from active service. However, their explosive Oprah interview in March 2021 quickly put paid to that and it was at this point that most members of the family were probably rethinking their relationship with the once popular prince.

Eugenie remained an exception. In an Instagram story last August, she wished Meghan a happy birthday and committed to 40 minutes of community service for Meghan’s 40×40 mentoring project; earlier this year the princess was pictured at the Super Bowl with Harry, and in the Harry & Meghan docuseries she is shown playing on the beach with Archie.

Many women will recognise the role of peacekeeper that Eugenie has taken on, but her loyalty to the couple also leaves her in an undeniably difficult situation now the dust has well and truly settled. One might imagine that family members encouraged her to keep lines of communication open with the California-based prince, but surely the accusations the couple level in their Netflix documentary and Harry’s memoir publishing on January 10 means there is now no path to reconciliation for the foreseeable.

As a result, a go-between is also not much use, and Eugenie’s role as peacekeeper may appear to some as betrayal. Ultimately when a battle is this fraught, you have to choose which side to stand on – and hovering in the middle rarely wins you many friends. Perhaps it is no coincidence that at Thursday’s Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey organised by the Princess of Wales, Eugenie was one of few royals not wearing a burgundy-hued coat – a colour some have speculated was chosen as a sign of unity.

For now, Eugenie appears to be spending Christmas at Sandringham, with Jack and August, their baby son, as the family comes together for their first festive holiday without the late Queen Elizabeth II. For the sake of everyone’s yuletide cheer, Eugenie should probably ensure any communication with her cousin is made from the privacy of her bedroom.

[From The Telegraph]

As I said, this clearly comes from William. Not even the Petty King Charles is whining to the Telegraph about how Eugenie and Harry are still close. Some Sussex critics have complained that Harry and Meghan have a “siege mentality,” which I think is both a legitimate criticism AND it’s perfectly reasonable for them to feel that way (you’re not paranoid if they’re really after you, etc). I bring that up because William shares it too, only he has a siege mentality AND he’s laying siege to the Sussexes. He’s screeching: “MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY! YOU CAN’T BE FRIENDS WITH HARRY, EVERYONE IS PLOTTING AGAINST ME.” Eugenie literally does not have to choose. She can maintain her friendship with Harry and Meghan and still be part of the damn Windsor cult. The real question is: will William really press this issue and try to bully and punish Eugenie?

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Super Bowl screencap.