Jeremy Clarkson came under fire following the release of his The Sun column where he slated Meghan Markle - and it has now been named the most 'complained about article'. According to press regulator IPSO, the story where Clarkson said he "hated" the Duchess of Sussex received a record number of more than 17,500 complaints as of 9am on Tuesday.
This overtook an article published in the Scottish Sun in August 2020 about the Stonehaven train derailment, which previously held the title of the most complained about article with more than 16,860 complaints.
The complaints for Clarkson's article managed to surpass the total number of complaints the media regulator received in the entire year of 2021, which was 14,355. The story was removed from The Sun's website on Monday at Clarkson's request after receiving an influx of backlash.
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In the piece published on Friday, Clarkson wrote that he had dreamed of Meghan being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed, adding that “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way”.
He also compared his level of detest for her to serial killer Rose West. He wrote: "Meghan, though, is a different story. I hate her. Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level."
He continued: "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.
"But what makes me despair is that younger people, especially girls, think she’s pretty cool. They think she was a prisoner of Buckingham Palace, forced to talk about nothing but embroidery and kittens. That makes me even angrier. Can’t they see everything that’s happening is so very obviously pre-planned."
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host issued a statement yesterday (December 19) after thousands of people complained to the news regulator about his article.
Clarkson addressed the backlash on Twitter and wrote: “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.”
The article attracted criticism from high-profile figures, politicians, and his own daughter, Emily Clarkson.
A spokesman for IPSO told the PA news agency: “Ipso has now received more than 17,500 complaints about Clarkson’s column on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, published by The Sun on Friday December 16, 2022.
“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 spokesman added that the number of complaints would be subject to change.
The most number of complaints received by the PCC, IPSO’s forerunner, was 25,000 – following a 2009 comment piece in The Daily Mail by Jan Moir about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.
However the PCC later ruled the piece had not been in breach of the Editorial Code, and the complaints were not upheld.
Earlier on Tuesday, a group of 64 MPs wrote to the editor of The Sun, Victoria Newton, to condemn the article “in the strongest terms”.
The cross-party group, led by Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, said the “hateful” article had contributed to an “unacceptable climate of hatred and violence”, and demanded that the publication take action against Clarkson.
“We are horrified at the recent article by Jeremy Clarkson in your publication. As parliamentarians of every persuasion, we condemn in the strongest terms the violent misogynistic language against the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle,” the letter read.
“This sort of language has no place in our country, and it is unacceptable that it was allowed to be published in a mainstream newspaper. Ms Markle has faced multiple credible threats to her life, requiring the intervention of the Metropolitan Police.
“Hateful articles like the one written by Mr Clarkson do not exist in a vacuum, and directly contribute to this unacceptable climate of hatred and violence.”
The letter continued: “We are deeply concerned about the role modelling being promoted to young men and boys, that they can verbally attack women without a consequence or that it is OK to use violent language to address a woman that you might disagree with.
“You will no doubt know how violence against women and girls has surged across Britain in recent years. We must do better. Enough is enough. We cannot allow this type of behaviour to go unchecked any longer.
“We welcome The Sun’s retraction of the article, we now demand action is taken against Mr Clarkson and an unreserved apology is issued to Ms Markle immediately.
“We further demand definitive action is taken to ensure no article like this is ever published again.”
PA has approached The Sun for comment.
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