Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial column about Meghan Markle will be investigated by the press watchdog Ipso.
In December, Clarkson published a column in which he wrote that he hated the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”.
Following large amounts of backlash, Clarkson apologised and later said that he had reached out to Meghan and Prince Harry over the article. However, Harry and Meghan issued their own statement claiming that Clarkson had only apologised to Harry.
On Thursday (9 February), the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) announced that it had launched an investigation into Clarkson’s article after receiving more than 25,100 complaints. It is Ipso’s most complained-about article ever.
The watchdog said that they were taking forward two complaints by The Fawcett Society and The Wilde Foundation.
The complaints claimed that Clarkson’s article breached of Clause 1 (Accuracy), Clause 3 (Harassment) and Clause 12 (Discrimination) of the Ipso code.
In the article, Clarkson wrote that he dreamt of the day Markle would be made to parade naked through Britain while crowds chanted “shame” and threw “excrement” at her.
When he later apologised for the piece, The Grand Tour host explained that the image of the duchess of being humiliated was in reference to a scene from Game of Thrones.
Still, he described his language as “disgraceful” and said he was “profoundly sorry”. The Sun also apologised and said it regretted the publication of the column, which was removed online.
In an interview with ITV around the release of his memoir Spare, Harry branded the “horrific, hurtful and cruel”, claiming that Clarkson’s words had would encourage people around the world to believe it is an acceptable way to treat women.
Ipso confirmed the conclusion of the investigation will be made public.
