Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist known for calling out world leaders and challenging them to take immediate action, received criticism from Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear.
About her protest outside the COP26, he said he did not understand the hype around the "Greta Thunberg phenomenon" and that she "needs a smacked bottom."
Thunberg had protested outside the Glasgow summit saying that COP26 was a failure and that "immediate drastic annual emission cuts" were needed.
She had described the summit as a "two-week-long celebration of business as usual and blah, blah, blah" to "create loopholes to benefit themselves."
Clarkson said that while he agreed with the stance, he viewed the protest as "pointless." He wrote in his column:
"I simply don't get the Thunberg phenomenon. She has no knowledge of how the world works, no manners and no letters after her name because instead of going to school, she's been busy sailing round the world so she can be mardy and abusive to grownups."
He went on to criticize her, saying:
"What she needs is a smacked bottom. Here's a tip, Greta: lecturing me on what needs to be done is pointless. It'd be like standing in my bedroom every morning ordering me to wear clothes. I know already."
He also proposed that Greta focus on other countries while ignoring the fact that western countries cause most of the damage done to the environment.
In his words:
"What you should be doing instead is cycling to countries where people are perhaps less aware of what should be done. China for example. That I'd like to see. Greta standing outside Zhongnanhai with her parka and her Glastonbury backpack and her microphone, lecturing the leaders about their policies on coal and trees and so on."
Greta's protest chants were heard throughout Festival Park. She said:
"You can shove your climate crisis up your a**e. Change is not going to come from inside there - that is not leadership, this is leadership. We say no more blah blah blah, no more exploitation of people and nature and the planet. No more exploitation. No more whatever the f**k they are doing inside there."
For his comments on her protest, Jeremy Clarkson has been facing backlash.
The phrase "smacked bottom" was poorly received. Many viewed it as "creepy" and "weird."
Well, Clarkson's criticism has in no way deterred Greta from her course. She continues to advocate for climate change, and no hater has a hold on her.
