Jeremy Clarkson
(Picture: PA Wire)The press watchdog will investigate two complaints against Jeremy Clarkson over a heavily-criticised column in which he said he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex “on a cellular level”.
The Sun column in December sparked more than 25,000 complaints from members of the public to watchdog IPSO, and was removed by the publisher.
In it, Clarkson told readers: “At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and thrown lumps of excrement at her”.
On Thursday, IPSO said it would take forward two complaints brought by equality charity The Fawcett Society and The Wilde Foundation.
The groups had alleged the piece broke the news industry’s code-of-standards around accuracy, harassment and discrimination.
“We will make public the outcome of this investigation through our website and on our social media channels when it is concluded,” said IPSO.
Both Clarkson and The Sun have previously apologised for the offence caused by the piece.
In a statement last month, the presenter of Amazon Prime's The Grand Tour said he had emailed Prince Harry and Meghan on Christmas Day to apologise.
He said he had not read what he had written properly before sending it to be published and realised the next day that he had “completely messed up”.
The ITV's Who Wants to be a Millionaire? host said: “You are sweaty and cold at the same time. And your head pounds. And you feel sick. I couldn't believe what I was reading. Had I really said that? It was horrible."
But a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan responded that it was not “an isolated incident” for the columnist.
“While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny," the spokesperson said at the time.
"Unless each of his other pieces were also written 'in a hurry', as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.”
The spokesperson added that the apology had only been addressed to Prince Harry and not Meghan.
