The Sun newspaper apologises over Jeremy Clarkson's Meghan Markle column following IPSO complaints

The Sun newspaper has said it regrets the publication of a Jeremy Clarkson column in which he said the Duchess of Sussex should be paraded “naked through the streets of every town in Britain”

More than 20,800 complaints have been made to the Independent Press Standard Organisation (IPSO) over the column, which was published in The Sun on Friday, making it its most complained about article.

The article was removed from the newspaper’s website following a request by Clarkson to do so.

It stated that the 60 MPs who put their names to the letter are “horrified” at the article.

In the original piece in the newspaper, Clarkson said of Meghan Markle: “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 throw lumps of excrement at her.”

In a statement, the newspaper said: “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.

The statement continued: “The Sun has a proud history of campaigning, from Help for Heroes to Jabs Army, Who Cares Wins and over 50 years of working in partnership with charities, our campaigns have helped change Britain for the better.

“Working with our readers, The Sun has helped to bring about new legislation on domestic abuse, provided beds in refuges, closed harmful loopholes in the law and empowered survivors of abuse to come forward and seek help. We will continue to campaign for good causes on behalf of our readers in 2023.”

Also in the article, Clarkson compared his “hate” of Meghan Markle with that of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, as well as the serial killer Rose West.

The SNP leader told STV News: “To be perfectly frank, the emotion that I feel most strongly, mainly, for Jeremy Clarkson is pity.

“That somebody can be so distorted by hate, in this case against Meghan Markle that they write that kind of vile stuff in a newspaper.

“But words have consequences. Again, I’m a passionate believer in free speech, but one person’s exercise of what they consider to be free speech, if that impinges on the safety of somebody else, then clearly there is a balance there not being struck.

“So everyone has to exercise the rights we all cherish in our society today with a degree of respect, civility and responsibility.”

An IPSO statement previously read: “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.”