ITV content boss Kevin Lygo writes Jeremy Clarkson in the Terrible column but says he will continue to moderate Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

ITV content boss Kevin Lygo is the first senior ITV executive to respond to Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial Meghan Markle column. Who wants to be a millionaire?.

Clarkson’s article “didn’t reflect our values,” Lygo told reporters at a Broadcasting Press Guild luncheon yesterday afternoon, adding: “It was terrible and he admitted it. I don’t know what he was thinking.”

is friday Sun Column stating that Markle “had to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain as crowds pelted her with excrement” is IPSO’s most lamented article of all time and the most lamented article, with over 20,000 copies from the UK Press Authority article, and Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper has since retracted the article, while Clarkson said he was “upset that it caused so much pain”.

Meanwhile, Scotland MP John Nicolson wrote to ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall, urging her to ask Clarkson, who introduced himself. Who wants to be a millionaire? for five years to resign.

McCall is yet to comment, but Lygo said Clarkson will continue to host the format.

“What [Clarkson] Writing in a newspaper column is really more common [the press] to speak as us,” said Lygo. “We have no control over what he says and hire him as the consummate host of television’s most famous quiz show.”

One of the ITV presenters to whom publishing executives may speak is Gary Neville, the ITV World Cup football pundit who was criticized for an insult in the World Cup final comparing workers’ rights in Qatar – where thousands of migrants are believed to have died to to build stadiums – leads to the “demonisation” of public sector workers in the UK. The comments were condemned by the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, among others.

“We will talk to him about not doing it again, but at the moment he is not part of our permanent presentation team. [beyond the World Cup]said Lygo. “Shall we hire him again? It depends on the circumstances.”

Lygo dismissed the idea that ITV should be more careful about including presenters given the Clarkson and Neville incidents, as well as Piers Morgan’s Meghan Markle cheating which led to his Good morning Britain resigned last year.

“There are 30 presenters on ITV every day and every now and then one goes over the line,” he added in response to a question from Deadline. “Jeremy’s incident didn’t happen on ITV and Piers’s was two years ago – and he resigned amicably rather than being sacked. We don’t want people ranting and raving and stuff like that, but on live TV occasionally people lose the plot a little bit.”

Markle’s husband, Prince Harry, who has been making headlines since Netflix launched Harry and Megan doc, will appear in a rare face-to-face interview with ITV presenter Tom Bradby, but Lygo would not be interested in the former Grab The actress will also appear in the interview, which will be used to promote Prince Harry’s upcoming memoir. Reservations.

ITVX wins

Lygo promoted new free-to-air streamer ITVX, which, according to the channel’s data, saw a 138% week-on-week increase in viewership in the first seven days year-on-year, fueled by the Soccer World Cup. I’m a celebrity… Get me out of here! and Damian Lewis drama A spy among friends.

He said the £160 million ($194 million) streamer could bring in more ad dollars than linear because of the ability to be targeted. “Because you can be more efficient with advertising, it should be more profitable. It’s early days, but that’s the theory.”

Lygo stressed that despite significant spending on ITVX, the publisher “is in excellent financial shape”.

Emphasizing that linear programming is still a priority, he questioned BBC director-general Tim Davie’s announcement earlier this month that television will be internet-only in a decade.

“I’m not sure [linear] have to stop at some point,” Lygo said. “America has always been on top and Linear is still very strong there. We broadcast our programs in many different ways and we face a bigger challenge than the BBC because we have to make money from advertising.”