The video hasn’t been posted by Clarkson. Instead, it’s been posted by a fan account which has hundreds of thousands of followers. The eight-second clip shows a baying mob revelling in watching AI Clarkson throw Starmer around and repeatedly punching him in the face. It’s been viewed millions of times.<\/p>\n
It’s been online for over 24 hours, but the wannabe-farmer has failed to acknowledge it. If my feed is full of people criticising him, I dread to think how many hundreds of people have alerted Clarkson to it.<\/p>\n
So why is he staying silent on this? Does he think it’s funny watching a false video of him beating up the PM? Does he find it entertaining? Does he endorse the video? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but there’s an easy way to put a stop to this chatter. Clarkson should put out a statement distancing himself from the video.<\/p>\n
Clarkson is not responsible for everything posted by fan accounts in his name, but he is responsible for what he chooses to ignore. When you have a huge public platform, silence can send a message of its own. A simple condemnation would make clear that this sort of violent fantasy has no place in political debate.<\/p>\n
This issue couldn\u2019t be more serious. Nearly every MP says they’ve faced abuse and intimidation, and half have said this makes them feel unsafe. Politicians have it hard enough – they’re rightly criticised by people across the internet, but this goes too far.<\/p>\n
I knew Sir David Amess, the MP for Southend who was murdered by a crazed Islamist terrorist in 2021. He was a kind-hearted man who was killed because of toxic rhetoric thrown towards our politicians.<\/p>\n
He’s not the only MP to be killed. The world of Westminster changed when Jo Cox was murdered in 2016. We’re ten years on from this vile crime and people still think it’s funny to share videos of people abusing MPs.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Clarkson’s refusal to call this out sickens me. He should call for it to be deleted or risk his silence beginning to look like an endorsement. It’s not funny.<\/p>\n
____________________<\/p>\n
Johnny Jenkins is a producer for LBC.<\/p>\n
LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.<\/p>\n
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.<\/p>\n