The Sun has removed a column Jeremy Clarkson wrote about Meghan Markle, after it sparked uproar online.
In the article, which was published on Friday, the 62-year-old wrote that he “hates” the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level” and dreams of people throwing “excrement” at her in the street.
The former Top Gear star also said that he hates Meghan more than Rose West, the serial killer who collaborated with her husband Fred in the torture and murder of young women and children.
NO Jeremy Clarkson. Not on any level, in any circumstance, is it ok to write this stuff about any woman & absolutely NO to "everyone who's my age thinks the same"
No no no. We absolutely do NOT think the same.
Listen to the noise Jeremy. The crowds are chanting "shame on YOU" pic.twitter.com/OzCt9lHG16— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) December 18, 2022
He added: “Everyone who’s my age thinks the same way.”
The article was deleted from The Sun’s website on Monday afternoon, with the publication explaining that Jeremy had “asked us to take last week’s column down”.
It comes after Britain’s independent press standards organisation, Ipso, said it received over 12,000 complaints related to the column – which has been branded “vile” and “disgusting” by Twitter users.
IPSO has received more than 12,000 complaints about Jeremy Clarkson’s column on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Read more here: https://t.co/Cu6rZ3gKNa
— Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) (@IpsoNews) December 19, 2022
In a statement, Ipso said: “Ipso has received more than 12,000 complaints (5pm, 19 December 2022) about an opinion piece on the Duchess and Duke of Sussex written by Jeremy Clarkson and published by The Sun on Friday, 16 December 2022.”
“The piece was removed from The Sun’s website this afternoon. We will follow our usual processes to examine the complaints we have received. This will take longer than usual because of the volume of complaints.”
The statement added: “Using the Editors’ Code of Practice, we examine the complaints we receive and try to seek a resolution between the complainant and publication.”
Taking to Twitter on Monday afternoon amid the backlash, Jeremy wrote: “Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it.”
“In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.”
The Game of Thrones scene Jeremy was supposedly referring to was Cersei Lannister’s infamous walk of shame scene, in which the character had to strip naked and walk through the streets of King’s Landing while being jeered at by the peasants.
Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) December 19, 2022
