The tabloid had published a column by Jeremy Clarkson where he confessed to having dreamed that the Duchess of Sussex “paraded naked through the streets of every city in the UK, while the crowds shouted Shame! and throw excrement on him“.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan denounced this Christmas weekend the “stuntWhat do they think the regrets of the tabloid The Sun represent about a column that violently attacked the Duchess of Sussex. Last week, ex-Top Gear car show presenter Jeremy Clarkson wrote that he dreams of the day Meghan should “parade naked through the streets of every city in the UK, while the crowds shout Shame! and throw excrement on him“. The newspaper said on Friday it regretted the publication of the text, which it removed from its website and archives, saying “Sincerely sorry“.
“The Sun’s failure to contact the Duchess of Sussex to apologize shows their intentions. It’s nothing more than a publicity stuntreacted on Saturday a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan. While audiences are entirely deserving of the title’s regrets for their dangerous words, we wouldn’t be in this situation if The Sun weren’t continually profiting and exploiting hate, violence and misogyny..”
Read alsoMarc Roche: “Prince Harry has always had a hard time with his spare tire position”
The disputed article prompted a record number of complaints (more than 20,000) to the British press regulator and numerous convictions of public figures. Jeremy Clarkson had in response invoked “a clumsy reference to (the series) Game of Thrones“. “This was taken badly by many people. I am horrified to have caused so much pain and will be more careful in the future“, he had written.
In one of Game of Thrones’ most defining sequences, a female character suffers a “walk of shamewhere she is forced to wander the streets naked while people throw trash at her.