Jeremy Clarkson’s article professing his “hatred” of Meghan Markle in The Sun was sexist, “pejorative and prejudicial” against the Duchess of Sussex, the press regulator has ruled.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said the newspaper broke press standards by running the article, in which Clarkson described how he hated her on a “cellular level”.
Ipso ordered The Sun to publish a front-page statement explaining how Clarkson broke anti-discrimination rules, which also ran online.
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However, some people were left dissatisfied with the ruling.
Catherine Mayer, co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party, said: “It’s so obvious that Jeremy Clarkson's diatribe against Meghan was sexist that it’s odd Ipso had to investigate to reach that conclusion.
She added: “The real issue is how such pieces are commissioned and signed off and why journalism is getting shriller and more abusive.”
Domestic abuse campaigner David Challen wrote on Twitter: “The real headline should be @IpsoNews takes 7 months to come to glaringly obvious conclusion. Yet another nail in the coffin of our toothless press regulator.”
And Lawrence Davies, chief executive of nonprofit Equal Justice, added: “We won on sexism. Can’t see why it wasn’t racist though.”
Clarkson wrote that he disliked Meghan more than the serial killer Rose West and dreamed of the day “when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.
The Fawcett Society gender equality charity, which made the initial complaint to Ipso, said the ruling is a “landmark decision” about a “vile and offensive” column.
The ruling is the first time a complaint to Ipso about discrimination relating to someone’s sex has been upheld, the regulator said.
Clarkson’s article attracted more than 25,000 complaints when it was published in December, and was swiftly pulled from the internet.
A spokesperson for The Sun said the company regretted publishing the column, pointing to high female readership at the newspaper, as well as its campaigns on domestic abuse and the cost of being a young mother.
Ipso chairman Lord Faulks said the imagery used in the article was “humiliating and degrading” towards Meghan.
Among the critics of the article at the time were Clarkson’s daughter, while the Duke of Sussex called it “horrific, hurtful and cruel”.
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