Jeremy Clarkson column about Meghan sparks tide of criticism

British tv presenter Jeremy Clarkson mentioned on Monday (Dec 19) he’s “horrified to have prompted a lot harm” with a scathing column about Prince Harry’s spouse, Meghan, that attracted a flood of complaints.

Clarkson, who hosts motoring present The Grand Tour on Amazon, wrote in tabloid newspaper The Solar that he hated the previous Meghan Markle “on a mobile stage” and dreamed of her being paraded bare by way of British cities “whereas the crowds chant ‘Disgrace!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.

Media watchdog the Impartial Press Requirements Group mentioned it had acquired greater than 12,000 complaints concerning the column by Monday – near the full variety of complaints it acquired in all of 2021.

The column was faraway from The Solar’s web site on Monday.

The press regulator mentioned it had acquired greater than 6,000 complaints concerning the column – virtually half as many as the full variety of complaints it acquired final yr.

Clarkson, who made his title because the combative host of the BBC automobile present High Gear, mentioned the general public shaming picture was “a slipshod reference” to a scene in Recreation of Thrones.

“I’m horrified to have prompted a lot harm and I shall be extra cautious in future,” he wrote on Twitter.

Clarkson’s column adopted the discharge of a six-part Netflix documentary about Harry and Meghan’s acrimonious break up from the British royal household. The couple stop royal duties and moved to California in 2020, citing an absence of assist from the palace and racist press remedy of Meghan, who’s biracial.

Clarkson’s column was condemned by public figures together with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who referred to as it “deeply misogynist and simply downright terrible and horrible”.

Clarkson’s daughter Emily Clarkson posted on Instagram that “I stand in opposition to all the things that my dad wrote about Meghan Markle and I stay standing in assist of these which can be focused with on-line hatred”.

Requested concerning the article, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned that “for everybody in public life, language issues.” He added that “I completely don’t imagine that Britain is a racist nation.”