U.K. press watchdog finds a tabloid column about hate for Prince Harry's wife, Meghan, was sexist
CTV
A column in The Sun tabloid that fantasized about seeing Prince Harry's wife, Meghan, being pelted with feces as she was paraded naked through the streets was sexist, Britain's press watchdog found.
A column in The Sun tabloid that fantasized about seeing Prince Harry's wife, Meghan, being pelted with feces as she was paraded naked through the streets was sexist, Britain's press watchdog found.
The column by TV personality Jeremy Clarkson in December described how he hated the Duchess of Sussex "on a cellular level." He said she used "vivid bedroom promises" to turn Harry into a "warrior of woke" and controlled him like a sock puppet.
"The imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the duchess," said Edward Faulks, chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation. "IPSO's purpose is to protect the public and freedom of expression by upholding high editorial standards. In this case, The Sun failed to meet these standards."
The independent organization, which most U.K. newspapers, magazines and digital news outlets voluntarily commit to be regulated by, found that multiple "pejorative and prejudicial" references to Meghan's sex breached its editors' code.
"Stereotypes about women using their sexuality to exert influence ... implied that it was the duchess's sexuality -- rather than any other attribute or accomplishment -- which was the source of her power," the findings said.
The article inspired a record number of complaints to the regulator, which required the newspaper to inform its readers of the findings released late Friday.
The newspaper printed a headline "Jeremy Clarkson: IPSO Upholds Complaint" at the bottom of its front page Saturday and directed readers to a summary of the report where Clarkson's column typically appears on page 17. The newspaper had removed the column and apologized in December.
