The Sun newspaper has said it is 'sincerely sorry' for comments Jeremy Clarkson made about the Duchess of Sussex. The company said it 'regrets publishing' a story in which the former Top Gear host criticised the Duchess.
The controversial column was branded 'awful' by ITV boss Kevin Lygo just days ago. And it became the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s (Ipso) most complained-about article.
In the piece Mr Clarkson said he 'hated' Meghan. Ipso said the piece, which was removed from The Sun’s website on Monday at Clarkson’s request, had received more than 17,500 complaints as of 9am on Tuesday – rising to 20,800 by 5pm.
In a statement, The Sun 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.”
Mr Clarkson had previously said he was 'horrified' by the hurt caused from the column. On Twitter, he said: "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."