Jeremy Clarkson attacks Greta Thunberg again, calls her 'a stupid idiot' and a 'weird Swede with bad temper'
'Grand Tour' host Jeremy Clarkson has accused Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg of being the reason why young people are not interested in cars today, calling her a "stupid idiot." The 59-year-old, in an explosive interview during the promotion of his motor show, slammed the 16-year-old and branded her "a weird Swede with bad temper."
Clarkson, while speaking to The Sun, accused the teenager of being a hypocrite, saying her famous speech at the United Nations offered no solutions when she accused the leaders of stealing her "dreams and childhood."
“Everyone I know under 25 isn’t the slightest bit interested in cars — Greta Thunberg has killed the car show," he told the outlet. "They’re taught at school, before they say ‘Mummy and Daddy’, that cars are evil, and it’s in their heads."
The teen, who rose to popularity through her weekly Friday protest outside the Swedish parliament a year ago, inspired millions of people across the world to take to the streets in an effort to demand emergency action on climate change from their governments.
The climate activist also slammed world leaders at the UN in September for their inaction towards climate change and said: "This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words."
Clarkson, who regularly slams activists in his column with the outlet, added that global warming has been "rammed down our throats" for the first time.
"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," he said. "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."
The British TV host told The Independent: "I think she's a weird Swede with a bad temper. Nothing will be achieved by sailing across the ocean in a diesel-powered yacht, and then lying about the diesel engine."
The journalist added that he has been aware of climate change for some time now and now "there's that weird Swede running around making all sorts of 'we're going to die' noises, so we're all aware of it." He said that he had witnessed the impact of climate change first hand when he saw rivers reduced to puddles while filming The Grand Tour in Cambodia.
"But rather than having her jumping up and down and waving her arms in the air, you can actually go there and say, 'Bloody hell, fire! Look at what this climate change has done to this place," he added. "We simply said, 'Here's an example of it.' What do you want me to do now? Get on my carbon fiber yacht and go and shout at Donald Trump?"