Jeremy Clarkson has unleashed a furious rant over the likes of Gregg Wallace, Wynne Evans and now Gino D’Acampo being ‘cancelled’.
This Morning star D’Acampo 48, is facing allegations from dozens of people who have worked with him over a 12-year period, with complaints of alleged bullying and sexually inappropriate comments including alleged behaviour described as ‘unacceptable,’ ‘distressing’ and ‘horrendous’.
D’Acampo has ‘firmly denied’ the allegations, and said they are ‘deeply upsetting’.
He has remained out of the spotlight, with ITV pulling all his upcoming shows from their schedules.
Wallace, 60, meanwhile has made a slow return to social media, months after taking a break from the limelight following his infamous ‘middle-class women of a certain age’ statement, which was issued after he stepped back from MasterChef late last year following several complaints and accusations made against him – which he has denied.
It had been alleged Wallace made ‘inappropriate sexual jokes’ and lewd comments on set, asked for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressed in front of and standing ‘too close’ to women working on his shows.
He has also been accused of groping three people in different incidents, ‘mimicking sex acts’ and walking around the studio almost ‘completely naked’, with more than 13 people across a range of shows over a 17-year-period making complaints.
However, Clarkson is questioning whether they, alongside Strictly Come Dancing star Evans who has been axed from the live tour after an inappropriate joke made about Janette Manrara, should be cancelled.
Writing in his column in The Sun, the former Top Gear host said: ‘None of them is accused of doing something illegal.
‘They just said something or did something which someone found offensive. And that’s that. It doesn’t even have to be a current misdemeanour.’
The 64-year-old claimed the likes of Wallace, Evans, D’Acampo and Phillip Schofield, who stepped down from This Morning in 2023 after admitting an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger male runner, have become ‘pariahs’.
He wrote: ‘It’s getting to the point where, soon, only Monty Don will be left.
‘And we are not talking here about kiddy-fiddlers or international terrorists.’
Clarkson went on to say that those getting ‘cancelled’ are ‘just out on the scrapheap’ with ‘no trial’ and ‘no chance to mount a defence’.
‘That’s bad enough when you get fired from a job stacking shelves, but when you have a household face and you are catapulted into oblivion it’s a very different kettle of fish,’ he said.
‘Because if you go to the shops or to the pub or even the park, you know people are going to stare at you and maybe even say something unpleasant.
‘So you are forced to stay indoors, in the mock Tudor mansion you bought with your earnings and which you can no longer afford.
‘In other words, you have your five minutes of fame and then. because we live in a world where everyone is offended by everything, it’ll be followed by 50 years of being a hermit.’
Schofield has largely remained out of the limelight since stepping back from ITV in full, aside from his ‘car-crash’ TV comeback on Channel 5’s reboot of Cast Away, where he vowed to ‘say whatever I want about whatever I want’.
During the three-part series, Schofield appeared to mock Holly’s infamous ‘Are you ok?’ This Morning scene, made it clear he wouldn’t work for ITV again, and lashed out at three unnamed ‘s**ts’ in showbiz and fumed at being ‘thrown under the bus’.
He has since stayed away from the public eye, with uncertainty over whether he’ll make a return to TV.
D’Acampo is best known for appearing on shows including This Morning, and also fronted Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip alongside Fred and Gordon Ramsay since 2018, which follows the trio visiting various countries and cities and exploring local culture and cuisine.
It was reported in December that he was ‘slowly being sidelined’ by ITV after allegedly facing a string of inappropriate behaviour claims made against him.
Following the allegations, ITV said in a statement: ‘All of the concerns and complaints raised by those who have spoken to ITN describe behaviour which is inappropriate and unacceptable. Most of them were not reported to ITV at the time. Where issues have been raised with ITV action has been taken.’
D’Acampo has responded to the full claims with a statement: ‘I have been told by ITN news that allegations have been made about me acting inappropriately, some dating back over ten years ago.
‘I have never been made aware of these matters previously and the allegations are firmly denied. I would not do anything that I thought would upset or distress anyone. This is simply not in my nature. I do not recognise the version of events being put to me.
‘Not only have these allegations never been raised with me before, I have been repeatedly supported by executives at the highest level and was commissioned on prime-time programmes during the period in which it is now suggested I was acting inappropriately.
‘I am a father, husband and have worked with well over 1,500 people on around 80 productions in my career, which I have been so proud of. I take such matters extremely seriously and the suggestion that I have acted in an improper way against is deeply upsetting.’
ITV added in a statement: ‘ITV has made our position very clear. Our promise to those we work with is that where a complaint is made to ITV or serious concerns raised, we will look into it, and if we find that something inappropriate has happened, we will take action.’
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