Britain’s Sun newspaper apologised Friday for a column by former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson about Meghan Markle. Clarkson wrote that he dreamed of watching Markle paraded naked through the streets while crowds threw shit at her.
Clarkson penned the vitriolic diatribe a couple of days after attending a lunch with the Queen Consort, Camilla Bowles-Parker. Piers Morgan, another prominent critic of the Duchess of Sussex also attended the lunch.
Clarkson’s article appeared on Saturday, December 19. By Tuesday, the Independent Press Standards Organisation had already received more than 17,500 complaints. No other article attracted as many complaints in the entire history of the regulator, established in 2014.
Over 60 British politicians from different political parties signed a letter to the editor of The Sun, warning such articles contributed to a climate of hatred and violence against women.
Clarkson also described the Duke of Sussex as a ‘glove puppet’ in the article. He wrote the Duchess “has her arm so far up his bottom, she can use her fingers to alter his facial expressions.”
Apologies
Clarkson tweeted a rather ordinary apology on Monday.
“Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.”
Friday, Murdoch’s Sun newspaper also finally apologised.
“We at The Sun regret the publication of this article and we are sincerely sorry.”
The paper added that it had removed the article from its website and archives.
Buckingham Palace has made no comment on the article. Notably neither has the Queen Consort. She, of course, happily attended the lunch with Morgan and Clarkson despite the constant vitriol thrown by the two media personalities at her daughter-in-law.
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Clarkson should be dismissed for his badmouthing – but I expect that the Murdoch press will do nothing