Jeremy Clarkson claims the cancellation of ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’ is an unfair attack on "Brexiteers".
The ‘Grand Tour’ host has hit out at the "hyenas and vultures" who have condemned the programme – which has been taken off air after a guest, Steve Dymond, took his own life a week after taking a lie detector test on the show – and insisted the attitude towards the show and its viewers has changed because so many voted to leave the European Union.
He wrote in his column for the Sunday Times newspaper: "As I write, the hyenas and vultures are picking over its carcass, saying that such lowbrow nonsense should never have been broadcast. And that its like should never be seen again.
"I see. So what sort of show should be beamed into the plasma-filled homes of the fat and the unintelligent? Repeats of the Richard Dimbleby lectures?
"…You’d imagine that the soft-left intelligentsia on Twitter would be happy to let the farmyard animals in the north of England have this kind of thing to distract them from mending the latch on their outside lavatory doors or warming up after a chilly dip in the tin bath.
"I mean, these good northern people are proper, honest socialists. Except that, now, they’re not. They’re Brexiteers. Which means they must have their playthings taken away."
The 59-year-old presenter – who voted to remain – admitted it is "probably right" the show was axed in the wake of the tragedy but insisted there is no need to put a more high-brow programme in its morning timeslot.
Reflecting on the closure of pubs and the criticism faced by supporters of Nigel Farage, he added: "All of which brings me back to ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’ and the ridiculously gleeful reaction to its demise. Sure, a guest went home having failed a lie detector test and, it seems, took his own life.
"That is extremely sad and it’s probably right the show is canned. But it should be replaced with something similar. Something with its eyebrows in its hairline."
Jeremy Clarkson slams Jeremy Kyle Show backlash
