The fallout continues in the wake of British media personality Jeremy Clarkson’s vicious op-ed about Megan Markle in U.K.’s The Sun newspaper last week.
The article, which has since been removed from the publication’s website, seethed an unhinged and deranged wave of vitriol against the Duchess of Sussex. Not only did Clarkson rant that he hated Markle “on a cellular level,” but he likewise called for her to be paraded “naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.”
And you thought you were having a real one!
The backlash, which included the 62-year-old’s own daughter, Emily Clarkson, forced Clarkson to offer a non-apology of sorts that did little to quell the outrage. And now, the Independent Press Standards Organization, an independent regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry in the U.K., says that Clarkson’s piece has become its most complained about article ever, according to The Guardian.
As of 9am on Tuesday morning, the piece had received more than 17,500 complaints — surpassing the total number of complaints the organization received in the entire year of 2021, which totaled 14,355.
“We will follow our usual processes to examine the complaints we have received,” an Ipso spokesperson said in a statement. “This will take longer than usual because of the volume of complaints.”
In hindsight, Clarkson is probably wishing that he had come off a bit more sincere with his response to the controversy.
“Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it,” he tweeted on Monday. “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.”
However, if there is a silver lining to be found here, it’s that perhaps people who have been dismissive of Markle’s extremely valid complaints about her treatment in the British media will finally take her seriously. In their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, which released its final three episodes last Thursday, the couple opened up about how the constant media harassment literally made them afraid for their safety.
With any luck, Clarkson, who currently hosts ITV’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Revival will soon be out of a job for contributing to the rancor.
