Featured Image Credit: John Keeble/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Jeremy Clarkson, UK News, Gen Z
Tom Earnshaw
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Jeremy Clarkson, UK News, Gen Z
Jeremy Clarkson has pitted his baby boomer upbringing and lifestyle against another generation after saying he can 'solve' why Gen Z is so 'useless'.
And for the former Top Gear man, it's relatively simple. Or so he says.
Having created a career in which he has often been known for having a controversial thing or two to say about things or people, it is a stance which has repeatedly landed him in hot water. A quick recap of the Meghan Markle case is enough to remind us of exactly why this has been problematic for the motoring journalist.
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Recent years have been the 64-year-old Yorkshireman mellow as he approaches state pension age, with his now more than half a decade running Diddly Squat Farm as documented over on Amazon Prime Video's Clarkson's Farm.
Well, it seems that early 2025 if the time for Jezza to stoke the fire once more. And sorry Gen Z folk, he has come for you with a vengeance.
In a new column for The Sunday Times, he said it is 'no wonder young people spend all day in bed worrying about racism and hydration'. Eeesh.
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Moving on, Clarkson said the generation is 'weird' due to the fact only a third have a driving licence, a fifth apparently don't drink booze, and less than a quarter are said to engage in one night stands.
Questioning this, he said: "What are they doing instead?"
Working? They are not, Clarkson claims, quoting figures putting more than 800,000 not in education, work or professional training schemes.
"So that’s comfortably more than half a million fit young people sitting on their arses all day, not drinking, not driving, not shagging and - most importantly - not working," he wrote.
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Why, then, are they apparently like this? Well, if you are Gen Z, Clarkson believes it's because of 'the bank of mum and dad'. The solution? Cut off this financial aide, Clarkson says.
Praising the young hands that work in his £1 million pub's kitchen and the young tradespeople that helped put the watering hole together ready for opening, he said: "They know that to buy anything or go anywhere, they need to earn money and that means working.
"Whereas people who do have access to parental generosity haven’t got that into their heads at all.
"They came out of Covid and thought, 'this lethargy lark is sick'."
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Clarkson added: "I worry that this generational tidal wave of uselessness is going to cause some serious problems down the line.Because in 30 years’ time, these people should be lawyers and business leaders and bankers.
"They should be running the show. But instead, they’ll all be at home, hydrating and worrying about racism, and the country will grind to a halt."
The problem isn't Gen Z, he says, but rather their parents who apparently give too much and expect little in return.