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 said on Friday (Jun 30).
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) ruled the column contained a pejorative and prejudicial reference to Meghan’s sex, in breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice.
The opinion piece, published in December 2022 and since withdrawn by the Sun, drew widespread condemnation from members of the public, politicians, Clarkson’s employers and even his own daughter after he wrote that he hated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 IPSO, who said it generated over 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.
IPSO 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.
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.