Jeremy Clarkson brushes off heatwave tweet criticism: ‘Climate change is real. Drink more beer’

Jeremy Clarkson is seemingly unaffected by the recent backlash he received for an “exceptionally stupid” tweet he posted about the ongoing heatwave.

On Sunday (17 July), the former Top Gear host shared a tweet which read: “It’s very hot in the south of France but so far as I know, there’s no DefCon 8 level 3 killer death heatwave warning in place.”

His post was widely interpreted as a jab at the UK government’s response to the heatwave, with many responding that his comment was incorrect.

However, Clarkson has dismissed the backlash, writing in a new tweet today (18 July): “I’ve spent my life working in extreme heat and we survived by having a beer under a tree. Climate change is real. Drink more beer.”

“Yeah let’s laugh about climate change,” someone replied.

To which the broadcaster quipped back: “We should laugh about anything we want. Now go and sit under a tree and have a cold beer.”

Clarkson’s original tweet received many negative responses, including climate journalist Dave Vetter, who shared a map of European wildfire outbreaks, commenting: “You could, indeed you have, filled several books with all the stuff you don’t know.”

Medical specialist Dr Philip Lee wrote: “They’ve literally evacuated 14,000 people from Southern France Jeremy. Because it’s on fire.”

Someone else described the tweet as “tone-deaf” and “ignorant”, while another person wrote: “This is an exceptionally stupid thing to say.”

You can follow live updates about the heatwave here.