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London: A column by TV personality Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun newspaper, in which he wrote he hoped Prince Harry’s wife Meghan would one day be forced to parade naked through the streets, was sexist, Britain’s press regulator has ruled.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) on Friday found the column contained a pejorative and prejudicial reference to Meghan’s sex, in breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice.
Britain’s press rugulator has found Jeremy Clarkson’s December 2022 column about Meghan Markle was sexist.Credit: Getty Images
The opinion piece, published in December 2022 and since withdrawn by The Sun, drew widespread condemnation from members of the public, politicians, Clarkson’s employers and even his daughter after he wrote that he hated Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, on a “cellular level”.
The column became the most complained-about article for the IPSO, which said the piece generated more than 25,000 complaints from members of the public.
Clarkson and The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, apologised but IPSO launched an investigation based on complaints from two women’s charities, the Fawcett Society and the WILDE Foundation.
IPSO has instructed The Sun to publish a summary of the findings against it – written by IPSO – on the same page as the column usually appears, which will be flagged on the paper’s front page in print and on the sun.co.uk website.
“We found that the imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the Duchess,” IPSO chair Edward Faulks said.
The organisation did not uphold separate elements of the complaint that the article was inaccurate, harassed Meghan, and included discriminatory references to her on the grounds of race.
In a statement quoted by The Telegraph, The Sun said that it “accepts that with free expression comes responsibility”.
“Half of The Sun’s readers are women and we have a very long and proud history of campaigning for women which has changed the lives of many,” the newspaper said.
“The Sun is committed to its work campaigning to strengthen legislation on domestic abuse, helping to provide beds in refuges and empowering survivors of abuse to seek help.”
Harry and Meghan have been the regular subject of derision in British tabloids, particularly since they stepped back from their royal roles in 2020 and moved to California.
The prince is currently suing MGN, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, over allegations of phone hacking dating back to 2011 and earlier. MGN says there is no evidence Harry’s phone was hacked.
Reuters
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