Jeremy Clarkson breaks silence on The Grand Tour finale backlash: ‘Illegal to have an opinion!’

Jeremy Clarkson, 64, has addressed the irked response he received from a section of Amazon viewers following the release of One for the Road earlier this month.

Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May reunited for one final road trip in the special, travelling across Zimbabwe before finishing at Kubu Island in Botswana.

The final location was a poignant choice given it was the very same spot where the trio filmed their first special overseas for Top Gear 17 years earlier.

In emotional scenes, the trio shook hands without any prolonged speeches as they brought 22 years of working together to a close.

Before reaching the final destination, all three men delivered poignant thank you speeches to the camera – and Clarkson couldn’t resist delving into one of his reasons for ending his tenure on The Grand Tour.

After celebrating the noise coming from the engine of his Lancia, Clarkson told viewers: “All you lot growing up today with your electric cars, you’re never gonna hear it.

“There are lots of reasons why we’re jacking this show in but for me, one of the main ones is I’m simply not interested in electric cars.

“They are just white goods, they’re washing machines, they’re microwave ovens. You can’t review those, you can’t enjoy them. They are just s***.”

Clarkson’s verdict on the modern state of motoring sparked a mixed reaction from viewers, with some accusing Clarkson of spreading “utter bulls***” and others accusing him of being misinformed.

Writing in his latest column for The Sun, Clarkson hit back at the backlash, explaining: “In the last ever Grand Tour I said one of the reasons I was going to stop making motoring shows is that I don’t like electric cars.

“You’ll note that this was a personal opinion. ‘I’ don’t like them.But, my God, the eco-Lefties went berserk.

“They said I was talking b*****ks and bulls*** and that I would kill everyone’s children. And that I should die as soon as possible.

“And I couldn’t help thinking, when did it become illegal to have an opinion?”

Clarkson’s ridicule of the uproar continued: “I don’t like marzipan either. So does that mean I must be subjected to a torrent of vitriol from those who do? And murdered?

“Whatever happened to the days when you could disagree with someone without wanting to kill them?” he pondered.

Elsewhere in One for the Road, it was May’s particularly heartfelt sign-off to viewers that left many at home “weeping”.

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Speaking to the camera as he and his co-stars neared Kubu Island, May said: “22 years. More than a third of my life. This is going to hit me in quite small ways.

“Like there’s a green bag, I have a green hold-all that I’ve used since the very first special in Botswana.

“I’ve always used it for specials, but I’ve never taken it anywhere else. So what will I do with that green bag? One day, I’ll come across it in the cupboard where we keep the bags. And I’ll think, ‘Oh, yeah’. And it will come back.”

After finding himself choked up, May added: “Anyway. I hope we’ve brought you a little bit of happiness.”