The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have branded an apology by The Sun newspaper over Jeremy Clarkson’s column “nothing more than a PR stunt”. The piece, in which Clarkson said he “hated” Meghan, became the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s (Ipso) most complained-about article.
On Friday, The Sun newspaper said it regrets the publication of the column and is “sincerely sorry”. But on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said Meghan had not been contacted by the newspaper to say sorry.
The spokesperson said: “The fact that the Sun has not contacted The Duchess of Sussex to apologise shows their intent. This is nothing more than a PR stunt.
“While the public absolutely deserves the publication’s regrets for their dangerous comments, we wouldn’t be in this situation if The Sun did not continue to profit off of and exploit hate, violence and misogyny. A true apology would be a shift in their coverage and ethical standards for all. Unfortunately, we’re not holding our breath.”
Ipso said the piece, which was removed from The Sun’s website on Monday at Clarkson’s request, had received more than 17,500 complaints as of 9am on Tuesday – rising to 20,800 by 5pm. The reaction surpassed the total number of complaints the media regulator received in 2021 – 14,355.
On Friday the newspaper said in a statement: “In last Saturday’s Sun, Jeremy Clarkson wrote a comment article about the Duchess of Sussex. It provoked a strong response and led to a large number of complaints to Ipso, the independent press regulator.
“In a tweet earlier this week, Jeremy said he had made a ‘clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones’, which had ‘gone down badly with a great many people’ and he was ‘horrified to have caused so much hurt’. He also said he will be more careful in future.
“Columnists’ opinions are their own, but as a publisher we realise that with free expression comes responsibility. We at The Sun regret the publication of this article and we are sincerely sorry."
