Jeremy Clarkson’s column on Meghan Markle receives record number of complaints

Jeremy Clarkson’s newspaper column about Meghan Markle has become the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s (Ipso) most complained about article.

The column, where Clarkson described hating Markle “on a cellular level”, has received over 17,500 complaints as of 9am on Tuesday (December 20).

In a statement to PA Media news agency (via the Guardian), an Ipso spokesperson said: “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 number of complaints exceeded the total amount Ipso received in 2021, which was 14,355.

In the piece, which was removed from The Sun’s website on Monday (December 21) at the request of Clarkson, the former Top Gear host said he “dreamed of the day” Markle would be forced to “parade naked” through the streets of Britain as crowds “throw lumps of excrement at her”.

After the article was widely criticised, Clarkson released a statement saying he was “horrified” by the response.

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

“Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it,” Clarkson wrote on Twitter. “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 the future.”

His column has been criticised by Carol Vorderman, John Bishop, Philip Pullman, Kathy Burke, Charlotte Church and others.

In a tweet, Church wrote: “Wow that poor bastard needs so much therapy. All I can suggest is that he undertake some form of the hero’s journey and come back to the village ever changed or do civilisation a favour and fuck off from public life.”

The post Jeremy Clarkson’s column on Meghan Markle receives record number of complaints appeared first on NME.