‘Horrific, hurtful and cruel’ column about Meghan Markle was sexist, UK media watchdog decides
- The column by TV personality Jeremy Clarkson described how he hated the Duchess of Sussex ‘on a cellular level’ and claimed she controlled Prince Harry
- ‘The imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the duchess’, Independent Press Standards Organisation said
A column in the UK’s Sun tabloid that fantasised about seeing Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan, being pelted with faeces as she was paraded naked through the streets was sexist, Britain’s press watchdog found.
The column by TV personality Jeremy Clarkson in December described how he hated the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level.” He said she used “vivid bedroom promises” to turn Harry into a “warrior of woke” and controlled him like a sock puppet.
“The imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the duchess”, Edward Faulks, chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) said.
“IPSO’s purpose is to protect the public and freedom of expression by upholding high editorial standards. In this case, The Sun failed to meet these standards”.
The independent organisation, which most UK newspapers, magazines and digital news outlets voluntarily commit to be regulated by, found that multiple “pejorative and prejudicial” references to Meghan’s sex breached its editors’ code.
